China, Jan. 9 -- BASF has successfully commissioned the steam cracker at its newly built Verbund site in Zhanjiang in South China as scheduled. This is the first cracker in the world using 100 percent renewable energy to drive its main compressors (eDrives). As the heart of the Verbund, the steam cracker supplies important basic chemicals such as ethylene and propylene to multiple plants on site. It is the starting point for many chemical value chains: long chain hydrocarbons such as naphtha or butane are cracked with the help of steam. The ethylene capacity amounts to one million metric tons per year. Moreover, following the recent successful start-up of several propylene downstream plants, BASF has safely brought into operations the plant...