Material-saving, resilient, long-lasting and easy to repair – the list of requirements to be met by the roads and streets of tomorrow is long. Hence, great future challenges lie ahead of road construction companies. In order to offer comprehensive solutions for the production of asphalt and bitumen, BASF combines, from now on, the development and marketing activities in the EMEA region in one central hub.

“Road-based freight transport across Europe will continue to increase significantly in the future; sustainability is, therefore, a key issue when it comes to infrastructure. This is why we work on new solutions to meet customer needs such as longer durability and improved maintenance as well as energy and carbon-dioxide savings,” said Christoph Hansen, head of the Dispersions & Resins Europe business unit where the central platform is going to be based.

“Additives for bitumen and asphalt are instrumental in making road surfaces more effective and longer-lasting. There are, however, great differences between one asphalt recipe and another. What matters, therefore, is to focus on the development of tailor-made, local solutions to meet customer requirements. I am very much looking forward to this exchange,” added Dr. Mario Šandor, head of the new EMEA asphalt platform.

The current BASF portfolio includes asphalt modifiers of the Butonal brand, that will be marketed in future by BASF and BTC, the European distribution organization of BASF. The high-quality polymer dispersions that are based on styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) will primarily be used for asphalt emulsions providing them with superior durability among other things.