Lanxess opens new formalin plant in Germany

Specialty chemicals company LANXESS, the largest employer at the Krefeld CHEMPARK, has officially opened a new formalin production plant at its Krefeld-Uerdingen site. The head of LANXESS' Advanced Industrial Intermediates business unit, Hubert Fink, and Krefeld’s mayor, Gregor Kathstede, officially opened the state-of-the-art plant today. Formalin is a feedstock for trimethylolpropane (TMP), a trivalent alcohol used for numerous products in, for example, the automotive, furniture and construction industries. The investment totals around EUR 18 million, creating five new jobs at the site. New formalin and methanol tanks have been constructed along with the plant and its 38-meter high tower on an area totaling 1,000 square meters.

"With our own formalin plant, we're enhancing our site in Krefeld-Uerdingen and continuing to expand our leading position as a manufacturer and supplier of TMP," said LANXESS’ Fink at the ceremony. "Producing formalin on site means we are no longer dependent on buying in this necessary feedstock, thereby also cutting transportation costs. We're also improving energy efficiency and helping to protect the environment thanks to a unique adsorber process."

"Uerdingen offers the perfect conditions for a cutting-edge company philosophy. By investing in formalin and menthol production, LANXESS has also boosted its own portfolio and Krefeld as a business location," said Krefeld's mayor, Gregor Kathstede. "I would like to thank those responsible for their commitment to the site in Uerdingen and I look forward to a future that continues to be shaped by successful partnership."

Joachim Waldi, Executive Board member of CHEMPARK operator CURRENTA, also welcomed this positive signal: "The new formalin plant is an important investment for the CHEMPARK Krefeld-Uerdingen site. We're delighted to see LANXESS use this investment and sustained modernization to continue to strengthen CHEMPARK Krefeld-Uerdingen as a key production site."

New formalin plant saves energy and protects the environment

Using cutting-edge technology enables the new plant to produce high-grade formalin in a particularly energy-efficient and eco-friendly way. The plant is started up and shut down using a unique adsorber process that initially leaves all pollutants in the plant in order to then dispose of them thermally in controlled operation. Steam is also generated in formalin production and is fed into LANXESS' own TMP facility, making it largely independent of external energy supplies. 

LANXESS products geared to global megatrends

By investing in formalin, LANXESS is responding to the megatrends of mobility and urbanization – issues that will play a key role in our future lives all over the world. “LANXESS already has the products needed to respond to these megatrends and thus to the markets of the future,” said Fink. The uses of TMP go beyond numerous products in the furniture, construction and automotive industries. One by-product of the production process is calcium formate – an additive that is in great demand on the market. A recent addition to its impressive range of applications is its use as a foliar fertilizer in fruit crops.

Expansion of menthol plant well on target

LANXESS' Advanced Industrial Intermediates business unit is also currently expanding its production plant for menthol at the site. The plant’s capacity will be doubled due to the large global demand for menthol. The expansion project is well on schedule and is due to be completed by the middle of the year. Synthetically manufactured menthol is an important component of many aroma chemicals, for example in the field of oral hygiene and chewing gum. It is also contained in many pharmaceutical products – such as those used to cool painful injuries.

Advanced Industrial Intermediates at LANXESS

LANXESS' Advanced Industrial Intermediates (AII) business unit belongs to the Advanced Intermediates segment, which achieved total sales of EUR 1,545 million in 2011. It has production sites in Germany (Krefeld-Uerdingen, Dormagen, Leverkusen and Brunsbüttel), China (Liyang), India (Nagda) and the United States (Baytown in Texas). Some 1,000 of the business unit’s total global workforce of around 1,500 work in Germany. All currently employs around 60 people at the TMP plant in Uerdingen.

LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 8.8 billion in 2011 and currently around 16,500 employees in 30 countries. The company is at present represented at 48 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals. LANXESS is a member of the leading sustainable indices Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) World and FTSE4Good.