Lanxess Ramps up Production of Thermoplastic Speciality Compounds

German speciality chemicals company, Lanxess, recently commissioned a new production line for the manufacture of speciality compounds at its Krefeld-Uerdingen site. The company has invested approximately 7-mn euros in expanding the production capacities of its engineering plastics.

Lanxess said the investment will cement its position as one of the world’s leading suppliers and developers of high-performance compounds based on polyamide 6, polyamide 66 and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT).

The new line has an annual capacity of up to 10,000 metric tons. At the Krefeld-Uerdingen site, it complements the compounding lines designed for the production of Durethan polyamide compounds and PBT compounds of the Pocan brand. “With this investment, we are responding in particular to the development of new forms of mobility such as electromobility, but also to trends in the electrical and electronic industry such as the Industry 4.0, which are leading to a growing demand for complex thermoplastic compounds,” explained Dr. Michael Zobel, Head of Lanxess’ High Performance Materials business unit.

The new production line includes a high-performance twin-screw extruder with a modern raw material feeding, precise dosing and an efficient cooling and classifying technology.

In addition to its German sites in Krefeld-Uerdingen and Hamm-Uentrop, Lanxess operates compounding lines in all relevant economic regions worldwide to supply its international customers – for example in Wuxi, China, in Jhagadia, India, in Gastonia, USA, and in Porto Feliz, Brazil. In 2019, Lanxess will open another compounding plant in Changzhou, China, with an annual capacity of around 25,000 metric tons. With its world scale production facilities in Krefeld-Uerdingen and Antwerp, the company is one of the world’s largest producers of polyamide 6 base resins.