LANXESS expands new plant for inorganic pigments in Ningbo
Specialty chemicals group LANXESS is strengthening its production network in China to meet the high level of demand for iron oxide pigments and is adding a mixing and milling plant to the pigment plant already under construction in Ningbo. LANXESS is creating a total of roughly 200 new jobs with these two plants. Potential customers for the iron oxide pigments are the coatings, plastics, construction and paper industries. This brings the total investment at the Ningbo site from around EUR 55 million to around EUR 60 million.
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 building the mixing and milling plant for pigments with an annual capacity of 70,000 metric tons. This plant will also process raw pigments from other LANXESS sites for the Asian market. The plants are scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2015 and to start production in the first quarter of 2016.
At the same time, LANXESS will also close its existing mixing and milling operations in Taopu, Shanghai, with an annual capacity of 35,000 metric tons by the end of 2016. Shanghai City Council will be integrating the vacated plant grounds into a high-tech park in Shanghai’s Putuo District.
“The trend towards urbanization is continuing unabated. Our decision to significantly expand our plant in Ningbo is based on the fact that the global demand for iron oxide pigments is growing at an annual rate of around three percent,” says Jörg Hellwig, head of the Inorganic Pigments business unit (IPG) at LANXESS. “In addition to our Jinshan/Shanghai site in China, we will then have another very strong base for our global production network. By doubling our milling capacities in China, we are strengthening our position as a world-leading manufacturer of iron oxide pigments with a wide-ranging product portfolio for customers.”
The new LANXESS plants in Ningbo on the East coast of China are located in the Ningbo Petrochemical Economic & Technological Development Zone (NPEDZ).
Other news from the department manufacturing
