Lanxess completes Euro 20 mn expansion program for aromatics

German specialty chemicals company Lanxess recently completed its three-year investment program totaling over Euro 20 million aimed at expanding the company's aromatics network. The comprehensive modernisation project focused mainly on facilities that manufacture nitrotoluenes, chlorobenzenes, and their downstream products.
 
Since 2013, Lanxess has modernised several production plants in the aromatics network operated by the advanced industrial intermediates (AII) business unit (BU) at the German locations. The AII BU belongs to the advanced intermediates segment, which achieved total sales in fiscal 2014 of Euro 1.6 billion. Its production sites in Germany are located in Leverkusen, Krefeld, Dormagen and Brunsbuttel.
 
  With the introduction of automation systems, Lanxess has been able to tap into considerable capacity reserves, for example for nitrotoluene derivatives. At the same time, the company has also updated the safety equipment. “The new automation systems, combined with the knowledge and experience of the specialists working on implementation, have not only brought the plants up to the latest standard, but also to a new level of efficiency,” emphasises Dr Torsten Hauschild, head of the aromatics network at AII.
 
Developed over decades, the Lanxess aromatics network is a complex structure encompassing seven large production plants that manufacture over 60 synthesis components from petrochemical raw materials. It manufactures aromatic compounds, mostly derivatives of benzene and toluene, of which chlorobenzenes, nitrotoluenes and their downstream products are among the most important. They are used by numerous industries to generate a wide range of final products.
 
Commenting on the investments, Neelanjan Banerjee, senior vice president - BU AII and senior executive director, Lanxess India, said, “Our AII business unit in India is an important supplier of chemical intermediates to a variety of end application segments in the domestic as well as overseas export markets. With these new investments in the aromatics assets in Germany, the AII business unit will continue to maintain leadership positions in markets like India for nitrotoluenes, chlorobenzenes, and their downstream products.”