GERMAN speciality chemical fim Lanxess is investing US$7 million in new finishing technology for ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) rubber at its Texas manufacturing plant. The improvement project is currently underway and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2012.
Along with the ongoing maintenance improvements, the company says the EPDM manufacturing unit’s reliability, productivity, efficiency and quality will be enhanced.
With the acquisition of DSM Elastomers in May this year, Lanxess is now the leading producer of EPDM rubber in the world, with production sites in the Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, and the US. The Texas facility currently has a capacity of more than 60,000 tonnes/year of EPDM rubber.
Lanxess has recently announced that it is investing EUR12 million at its Geleen site in the Netherlands to convert 50% of its EPDM rubber production 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.(PRA)
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