International.
The production of aromatic intermediate compounds is a core competence of the specialty chemical company Lanxess, as evidenced by a recently completed three-year, more than €20 million investment program aimed at expanding the company's aromatics network.
The comprehensive modernization project focused mainly on plants that manufacture nitrotoluens, chlorobenzenes, and their by-products.
Developed for decades, Lanxess' aromatics network is a complex network structure spanning seven large production plants that manufacture more than 60 synthesis components from petrochemical raw materials. Its name comes from the products themselves: aromatic compounds, mostly derived from benzene and toluene, of which chlorobenzene, nitrotoluene and their derived products are among the most important.
They are used by numerous industries to generate a wide range of end products: active ingredients for pharmaceuticals and crop protection products, additives for plastics and rubber products, paints and coatings, flame retardants, biocides, perfumes and flavorings.
Joachim Waldi, head of Lanxess' Production, Technology, Safety and Environment fusion group, explains: "Since 2013 we have modernized several aromatics production plants in the network operated by the business unit's Advanced Industrial Intermediates (AII) in the German plants. Thanks mainly to the introduction of automation systems with state-of-the-art technology, we also take advantage of considerable capacity reserves, for example nitrotoluene derivatives. "At the same time, the safety equipment was significantly upgraded and improved.
