LANXESS Expands Black Pigment Capacity

Specialty chemical company LANXESS has increased capacity for black synthetic iron oxide pigments at its Krefeld-Uerdingen facility by more than 5,000 metric tons annually. Holger Hüppeler, head of the Inorganic Pigments business unit at LANXESS, states: "Rising demand for our unique black pigments, particularly from the construction industry for concrete coloration, can now be better met with the bottleneck elimination measures that have been completed." The company continues to systematically expand production capacity for synthetic iron oxide pigments. LANXESS is the sole global supplier producing these pigments using the Laux process.

Black becomes a trend

In architecture and landscape design, black concrete coloration has recently become a trend. Concrete offers construction material producers, architects and builders numerous possibilities as a creative material. Through the use of appropriate pigments, this applies not only to architectural design of concrete but especially to its coloration. "Thanks to up to 15% higher colouring strength and reliable colour consistency, our Bayferrox 330 and Bayferrox 340 black pigments are the preferred choice not only for concrete paving stones and roof production but also, for example, in architecture for colouring high-quality cement-based building materials," explains Hüppeler. Beyond this, LANXESS's special iron oxides provide additional tangible benefits. Pigments produced using the Laux process are the only synthetic iron oxides specially approved by an independent testing institute for safe use in ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC). UHPC is used, for example, in construction projects where high load capacities and lightweight, customised structures are required. And these high-quality pigments are also impressive when it comes to sustainability references. It has been approved for high recycled raw material content by SCS Global Services, one of the leading companies for global inspections and independent certifications.

Moving toward greater environmental friendliness

LANXESS operates the world's largest facility for synthetic iron oxide pigment production in Krefeld. The global importance of this site is confirmed each year not only by extensive investment in capacity increases and process optimization but also by the continuous expansion of environmentally friendly production technologies. Thanks to the unique Laux process, the production facility at Krefeld-Uerdingen already has an excellent carbon footprint. This is because this special chemical process uses the heat generated during the reaction to produce steam used in subsequent processing steps. "Our objective is to use targeted measures to continuously reduce the CO2 footprint of our pigments. In the future, the energetic use of hydrogen produced in the pigment production process and usable as a substitute for fossil fuels will also play an important role," says Hüppeler. The specialty chemicals group LANXESS has set itself an ambitious climate protection target. The group aims to become climate neutral by 2040 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the current level of 3.2 million metric tons CO2. LANXESS aims to reduce emissions by 50% compared to today by 2030, bringing them down to approximately 1.6 million metric tons CO2. LANXESS continues to systematically expand synthetic iron oxide pigment production. The company is the sole global supplier producing these pigments using the Laux process. Photo: LANXESS AG