Specialty chemical company Clariant has completed the acquisition of BASF’s U.S. based Attapulgite business assets for $60 million. The transaction includes the transfer of land as well as mining rights, the processing facility, and inventories, which will be integrated into Clariant’s Functional Minerals business.

Adsorbent clays, such as attapulgite, are an important enabler for growth in the purification of edible oils and renewable fuels. In edible oil they remove contaminants thereby enhancing the shelf-life and oil quality, whereas in renewable fuels they play a key role in removing contaminants during the pre-treatment process, thereby protecting the catalyst. This enables a particularly stable and economically viable process. Clariant offers unique technologies for the purification of biodiesel to reduce greenhouse gases in road transportation and for the purification of pyrolysis oil to enable the chemical recycling of plastics.

North America is a strategic region for Clariant with numerous growth opportunities in the edible oil and renewable fuel markets.