Lanxess investing $7 million at EPDM plant

Friday, October 28, 2011

Pittsburgh, PA - Lanxess is investing $7 million in new, state-of-the-art finishing technology for ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) rubber at its Orange, TX manufacturing plant. The improvement project is currently underway and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2012. “This investment, along with ongoing maintenance improvements, enhances the Lanxess Orange site EPDM manufacturing unit’s reliability, productivity, efficiency and quality, all of which ultimately result in better product quality and reliability for our customers,” said Guenther Weymans, head of Lanxess’ Technical Rubber Products business unit. With the acquisition of DSM Elastomers in May, 2011, Lanxess is now the leading producer of EPDM rubber in the world, with production sites in Geleen, the Netherlands, Marl, Germany, Triunfo, Brazil, and Orange, TX. The Orange facility currently has a capacity of more than 60,000 metric tons per year of EPDM rubber. Lanxess has recently announced that it is investing EUR 12 million at its Geleen site to convert 50% of its EPDM rubber production in Geleen to innovative Keltan ACE technology. Compared to conventional production processes, Keltan ACE technology reduces energy requirements for rubber production and it does not require catalyst extraction as a result of high catalyst efficiency. Furthermore, the process enables the manufacture of new EPDM rubber grades. In addition, Lanxess aims to commercially produce EPDM rubber from bio-based ethylene by the end of the year at its plant in Triunfo, Brazil. Lanxess plans to use ethylene derived purely from Brazilian sugar cane. Marketed as Keltan Eco, it will be the first form of bio-based EPDM rubber in the world.

(Source: Rubber World)