Leveraging BASF's 300,000-ton water-based binder production capacity in China, both parties continue to deepen collaboration in the new energy battery materials market.
Collaboration Promotion Meeting and Background
The "BASF and CASU High-Performance Water-Based Battery Binder Technology and Scale-Up Application Collaboration Promotion Meeting" was held in Shanghai. Andreas Fechtenkötter, Senior Vice President of BASF's Dispersions Business in Asia Pacific; Huang Yi, General Manager of BASF's Dispersions Business in Greater China; Zhou Shengzhong, Director of BASF's Adhesives and Fiber Bonding Business in Asia Pacific; Yan Xiaowei, Global Business Manager of BASF's Battery Binders; and other relevant executives visited CASU. They held in-depth discussions with CASU President Lin Fanqiu and his team regarding customer onboarding, application validation, supply assurance, and scale-up promotion of water-based anode binders in China's new energy battery market.
This exchange represents not only a milestone in the long-term collaboration between CASU and BASF, but also a significant development in DBC Group's continuous deepening of industrial synergy within its new energy materials business segment. As a key synergy platform for DBC Group's new energy materials business, CASU has long focused on the application value of high-performance materials in power batteries, energy storage batteries, and advanced battery technologies, continuously driving the efficient alignment of internationally leading material systems with the demands of China's new energy battery industry.
The core of this promotion meeting is to leverage BASF's 300,000-ton water-based binder production capacity in China, alongside CASU's long-standing expertise in new energy battery customer development, application promotion, technical feedback, and localized services, to further advance water-based battery binders from product supply to scale-up application solutions with greater comprehensive competitiveness.
Application Requirements for New Energy Battery Materials
Currently, China's new energy battery industry is transitioning from a phase of rapid expansion to a more mature stage of scale-up competition. Battery manufacturers' selection of key materials no longer focuses solely on single performance metrics; instead, greater emphasis is placed on material performance stability, certainty of bulk supply, application adaptation efficiency, technical response speed, and comprehensive cost of use.
This shift is particularly evident in anode material systems. As power batteries continue to upgrade toward higher energy density, fast-charging capabilities, and longer cycle life, and energy storage batteries develop toward higher safety, longer lifespan, and optimized system costs, technological trends such as high-silicon anodes, silicon-carbon anodes, and semi-solid/solid-state batteries are continuously driving the iteration of electrode material systems. These new technological trends impose higher demands on anode binder systems, electrode processing stability, interface adaptation capabilities, and consistency in scale-up manufacturing.
Although water-based anode binders account for a small proportion of cell material costs, they directly impact electrode processing stability, bonding strength, cycle performance, low-temperature performance, and battery consistency. For battery manufacturers, a binder product with true market competitiveness must not only be reliable in performance but also capable of stable supply, rapid onboarding, continuous optimization, and demonstrating comprehensive value in scale-up applications.
Synergy in Localized Supply and Customer Onboarding
Regarding battery binder business, CASU and BASF have collaborated for over five years. Both parties have established a solid foundation for cooperation in market development, customer applications, technical feedback, and supply chain synergy. During this promotion meeting, both parties focused primarily on the scale-up application opportunities for BASF's high-performance water-based battery binder products, such as Basonal Power® and Licity®, in the Chinese market. They further explored how to serve China's new energy battery customers with more stable localized supply capabilities, more efficient customer onboarding mechanisms, and application solutions with greater comprehensive competitiveness.
Huang Yi, General Manager of BASF's Dispersions Business in Greater China, introduced that BASF has established a 300,000-ton water-based binder production capacity in China. The successful commissioning of BASF's Zhanjiang integrated base in April this year has also provided a more stable and reliable source of upstream raw materials for water-based battery binder products, further enhancing BASF's integrated supply capabilities and comprehensive cost competitiveness in the Chinese market. Relying on this scale-up, localized, and integrated industrial foundation, BASF can provide more deterministic service support for China's new energy battery material customers in terms of product quality stability, bulk delivery capability, supply assurance efficiency, and customer application support.
On this basis, CASU will further leverage its understanding of the needs of China's new energy battery customers, as well as its synergy capabilities in customer development, application promotion, technical feedback, localized services, and project implementation. The complementary advantages of both parties will help advance high-performance water-based anode binders from single product supply to systematic, scale-up, and localized application solutions.
Fu Anzhi, Senior Vice President of BASF, stated that China's new energy battery industry is continuously driving upgrades in material technology, placing higher demands on the stable supply, application adaptability, and comprehensive value of high-performance water-based binders. BASF will continue to leverage its strengths in dispersion technology, product innovation, local supply, and application support to provide customers with more competitive material solutions, supporting the high-quality development of China's battery industry.
Lin Fanqiu, President of CASU, stated that over five years of collaboration has deepened both parties' understanding of the Chinese battery material market and customer application needs. In the future, CASU will continue to leverage its capabilities in local customer collaboration, project advancement, and industrial chain services, working with BASF to jointly promote the scaled application of high-performance water-based anode binders for batteries under technological trends such as power batteries, energy storage batteries, high-silicon anodes, and semi-solid/solid-state batteries.
Looking ahead, DBC Group will continue to focus on development opportunities in new energy materials, green manufacturing, and high-performance application materials. It will support CASU in deepening collaboration with leading international material companies, continuously building a more industrially valuable material application platform centered on battery materials, green materials, and functional materials, providing more stable, efficient, and competitively comprehensive key material solutions for China's new energy battery industry.
About CASU: CASU Co., Ltd. (CASU) is an innovative enterprise focused on the industrial application of new materials and organic eco-friendly battery materials. It was established as a joint venture in Shanghai in 2017 by DBC Group and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The company continuously invests in high-end chemicals and raw material industries, application R&D, and technological innovation, possessing strong technical R&D and industrialization capabilities in fields such as lithium-ion organic materials, adhesives, and bio-based coatings. Business Cooperation: Tel 400 096 2017, Email casu@cas.cc
