LANXESS expands cresol capacity in Germany

LANXESS has completed the expansion of its cresol production plant in Leverkusen, Germany, and has now begun operating a newly constructed reaction system as well as a second 46-meter-high distillation column. The expansion increases capacity for this high-quality intermediate for the global market by about 20%. LANXESS has invested around Euro 20 million in the new units, which took approximately one and a half years to build. Agrochemicals are among the fields of application for cresols. They are also used in the manufacture of vitamin E, aroma chemicals, resins and flame retardants.
 
Werner Breuers, member of the Board of Management of LANXESS AG, said, “This plant expansion is another clear statement by LANXESS highlighting the company's commitment to Germany and North Rhine-Westphalia as an industrial location. We expect sustainable market growth with cresols and have aligned our long-term planning to this.”
 
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Hubert Fink, head of the Advanced Industrial Intermediates business unit to which the cresol plant belongs, added, “The new elements of this facility will help us manufacture even purer cresols for our customers. They are also designed in such a way that energy released in production is fed back into the manufacturing process in the form of steam. Our cresol plant once again highlights LANXESS' ongoing commitment to making production processes as environmentally friendly as possible and reducing energy costs.”
 
The expansion of the cresol plant is part of LANXESS Advanced Industrial Intermediates business unit's long-term asset strategy. “To be able to expand our global market position in the future, it will be necessary to continue increasing our productivity. That is why we are planning to increase the capacities of other high-quality intermediates to keep pace with the growth of our customers and meet their demand for reliable delivery even more effectively,” said Fink.
 
In the first expansion step completed in 2010, LANXESS invested around Euro 35 million in the aromatics network, increasing capacities by up to 60%.
 
The LANXESS aromatics network, to which the cresol plant in Leverkusen belongs, consists of a total of seven large-scale plants – mostly in Leverkusen – with further finishing stages in Krefeld-Uerdingen, Dormagen and Brunsbuttel, Germany. The starting basis for the aromatics network comprises the petrochemical raw materials benzene and toluene, which are further processed through a variety of chemical reaction steps into a diversity of high-quality intermediates. These products – more than 50 of them in total – play a major role in all areas of everyday life. They are used worldwide as key starting materials for active ingredients in crop protection products and pharmaceuticals, perfumes and flavourings, as well as for polymers, paper chemicals, surface coatings and pigments.