Combining business segments bears fruit
Thursday, 11. February 2016 LANXESS: Strong synergy effects at Rhein Chemie Additives
Antiwear additive now also produced in France
Cologne – Specialty chemicals company LANXESS combined all its additive-related business segments in the new Rhein Chemie Additives business unit (ADD) in early 2015, and the move is bearing fruit. One synergy effect is the more efficient utilization of phosphorus plants operated by the company at various sites worldwide. Following a comprehensive efficiency analysis, the phosphoric acid partial ester Additin RC 3760, previously shipped only from Mannheim, will now also be produced at the LANXESS site in Epierre, France, effectively doubling manufacturing capacity for this product. Additin RC 3760 is a proven anticorrosion and antiwear additive with a long history of success in metalworking fluids, hydraulic and industrial oils.
“We use an identical manufacturing process in France,” explains Martin Säwe, head of the Lubricant Additives business line in LANXESS’ ADD business unit. “The product fulfills the same specifications and quality requirements as the Additin RC 3760 shipped from Mannheim. However there is one difference: while we have to buy-in phosphorus pentoxide in Mannheim, we are backwards integrated in France even as far as processing elementary phosphorus, meaning we have a more secure position.” And that benefits customers: the added production site significantly increases supply security and, ideally, delivery times can now be considerably shorter.
The expanded capacities give LANXESS new opportunities: the company can utilize its phosphorus chemistry plants at both sites more efficiently, and adapt Additin RC 3760 for use in even more additive packages.
“In addition, we now have new options for manufacturing phosphoric acid partial esters, which have not been produced on an industrial scale at LANXESS to date,” explains Säwe. “It makes us much more flexible in developing new products based on phosphoric acid esters. Additin RC 3760 from France is just the first step. We already have plans for additional products.” By combining all these activities in ADD, the company’s existing know-how in phosphorus chemistry can be exploited much more efficiently. “We are phosphoric acid ester experts,” explains Karsten Job, head of the Plastic Additives business line at ADD. “This chemistry makes up a large part of our business.” The LANXESS phosphoric acid esters that are used, for instance, as flame retardants and phthalate-free plasticizers in polyurethanes and PVCs, are similar to those marketed to the lubricants industry. In some cases, they even comprise of the same molecules. “The obvious next step was to combine our plants and our expertise.”
LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 8.0 billion in 2014 and about 16,300 employees in 29 countries. The company is currently represented at 52 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 sustainability indices Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI World) and FTSE4Good.
Cologne, 11. February 2016
bit (2016-00010e)
Forward-Looking Statements
This company release contains certain forward-looking statements, including assumptions, opinions, expectations and views of the company or cited from third party sources. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could cause the actual results, financial position, development or performance of LANXESS AG to differ materially from the estimations expressed or implied herein. LANXESS AG does not guarantee that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor does it accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the opinions expressed in this presentation or the actual occurrence of the forecast developments. No representation or warranty (expressed or implied) is made as to, and no reliance should be placed on, any information, estimates, targets and opinions, contained herein, and no liability whatsoever is accepted as to any errors, omissions or misstatements contained herein, and accordingly, no representative of LANXESS AG or any of its affiliated companies or any of such person's officers, directors or employees accept any liability whatsoever arising directly or indirectly from the use of this document.
![[_de_]Typische Leistungsprüfung für High-Performance Verschleißschutzadditive: In den technischen Kompetenzzentren von LANXESS werden auch Leistungsprüfungen von High-Performance Verschleißschutzadditiven durchgeführt, zum Beispiel auf der FZG Zahnrad-Verspannungs-Prüfmaschine. Foto: LANXESS AG[/_de_] [_en_]Typical performance test for high-performance antiwear additives: At the LANXESS technical competence centers, performance tests are also performed on high-performance antiwear additives, for example on the FZG gear test rig. Photo: LANXESS AG[/_en_]](https://rch.lanxess.com/content/uploads/2016/03/fzg-test_08_be65dd0de9.jpg)