page_title: BASF
section_title: Sulfuric acid
hierarchical_section_title: BASF / History / Sulfuric acid
caption_attribution_description: Indigoproduktion BASF um 1890
context_page_description: BASF SE is a German multinational chemical company and the largest chemical producer in the world. The BASF Group comprises subsidiaries and joint ventures in more than 80 countries and operates six integrated production sites and 390 other production sites in Europe, Asia, Australia, the Americas and Africa. Its headquarters is located in Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has customers in over 190 countries and supplies products to a wide variety of industries. Despite its size and global presence, BASF has received relatively little public attention since it abandoned manufacturing and selling BASF-branded consumer electronics products in the 1990s.
  At the end of 2019, the company employed 117,628 people, with over 54,000 in Germany. In 2019, BASF posted sales of €59.3 billion and income from operations before special items of about €4.5 billion. The company is currently expanding its international activities with a particular focus on Asia. Between 1990 and 2005, the company invested €5.6 billion in Asia, for example in sites near Nanjing and Shanghai, China and Mangalore, India.
  BASF is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, and Zurich Stock Exchange.
context_section_description: Sulfuric acid was initially produced by the lead chamber process, but in 1890, a unit using the contact process was brought on stream, producing the acid at higher concentration (98% instead of 80%) and a lower cost. This development followed extensive research and development by Rudolf Knietsch, for which he received the Liebig Medal in 1904.
caption: Indigo production at BASF in 1890
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