2015-04-22

Live and in color

LANXESS introduces its new red pigments at the ECS in Nuremberg in April

Cologne – In addition to its current extensive portfolio of inorganic pigment products, specialty chemicals company LANXESS will be displaying test panels introducing its new red shades at the European Coatings Show (ECS) 2015 in Nuremberg from April 21st to 23rd. The Inorganic Pigments business unit currently produces these new grades in its Geman pilot plant in Krefeld-Uerdingen, but from 2016 they will be manufactured in the new production plant in Ningbo, China. They will be marketed globally under the trusted Bayferrox brand name and represent a further expansion of the product portfolio of the world's largest iron oxide producer.

The new plant for iron oxide red pigments in Ningbo, which has been built to the latest environmental standards, is being designed for an initial annual synthesis capacity of 25,000 metric tons. On the same site, LANXESS is now also erecting a mixing and milling plant for pigments with an annual capacity of 70,000 metric tons. “The trend toward urbanization is driving the demand for environmentally friendly, sustainably-produced iron oxide pigments. With our new facility in China, we are expanding both our global production network and our product line. We can thereby continue to grow with our customers and remain a reliable partner,“ says Jörg Hellwig, head of the Inorganic Pigments business unit.

Visitors to the LANXESS stand at the show can view a 1:250 scale model of the production plant. In the morning on the first two days of the ECS there will also be a live relay from the construction site in China with information on the progress of construction.

Energy-efficient facility sets new environmental standards
In the Ningbo Chemical Park, the company will for the first time employ its optimized Penniman process in which improved water treatment and waste gas purification ensure a high level of environmental compatibility. Optimizations in the production process will also significantly reduce the quantities of nitrogen oxides generated. Emissions of the greenhouse gas N2O (nitrous oxide) will almost completely be converted by an efficient after-treatment into nitrogen, water and oxygen – all naturally occurring substances.

Compared to all currently available iron oxides, the innovative and sustainable Penniman process produces the brightest and most yellowish red pigments. Significantly higher color values on the red axis (a*) in the L*a*b* color space are achieved, and the same is true for the color development on the yellow axis (b*). No other iron oxide production process provides the option of such a flexible and precise production of color shades.

Effective milling reduces the proportion of aggregates and agglomerates, which makes it possible to wet the pigments quickly during incorporation into color systems. “New Red” pigments exhibit very good color stability during milling, even with the use of agitator mills. Their resistance to heat is extraordinarily good.

The new bright yellowish Bayferrox red pigments have also been tested for use in highly filled paste systems: the viscosity curve of these systems is nearly Newtonian. As a result, the systems can be highly concentrated, which gives the user flexibility in control of the process.

Detailed information on the new red pigments will be provided in the presentation entitled “The reddest iron oxide pigments ever,” which will be given by Stephan Spiegelhauer, head of the IPG Global Competence Center Paints & Coatings on April 20th at the 2015 European Coatings Congress in Nuremberg.

LANXESS' Inorganic Pigments business unit is the world's largest manufacturer of iron oxides and a leading producer of inorganic pigments based on chromium oxides. IPG has sites in Krefeld-Uerdingen, Germany; Porto Feliz, Brazil; Starpointe Burgettstown, United States; Branston, United Kingdom; Vilassar de Mar, Spain; Sydney, Australia; Shanghai and from 2016 in Ningbo, China. The IPG business unit is part of LANXESS’s Performance Chemicals segment, which recorded sales of EUR 2.2 billion in fiscal 2014.

Detailed information can be found on the Internet at www.bayferrox.com.
LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 8.0 billion in 2014 and about 16,600 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 DJSI Europe) and FTSE4Good.

Forward-Looking Statements.
This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by LANXESS AG management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

Information for editors:
All LANXESS news releases and accompanying photo, video and audio material can be found at www.lanxess.cn, www.weibo.com/lanxess, or LANXESS official WeChat account: LANXESS_china