LANXESS steps up research and development

June 19, 2009 - PRLog -- Leverkusen – Specialty chemicals group LANXESS AG is stepping up its research and development activities. Today, around 200 experts from the company will present their latest projects at the company’s second Innovation Day. “Innovation is an essential prerequisite if the company is to achieve sustainable long-term success, especially in these difficult economic times. That’s why we’ve increased this year’s investment budget to around EUR 110 million, up 10 percent on 2008,” states LANXESS AG Board of Management member Werner Breuers, stressing the importance of research and development to the company. Research expenditure at LANXESS had already been increased significantly in 2008.


New central “Innovation” group function


At the beginning of this year, the specialty chemicals group also created an independent “Innovation” group function for centralized coordination of its research and development activities. In close cooperation with LANXESS’s manufacturing business units, the roughly 30-strong team acts as an “innovation hub” for the development of optimized production processes, new products and new applications.


Rubber innovations to mark the centenary


Synthetic rubber is very much in evidence among the 40 plus projects being presented at the Innovation Day. Invented 100 years ago, this high-tech material still offers great innovation potential. The new functionalized styrene-butadiene rubbers of the Performance Butadiene Rubbers business unit enhance all three key properties of cutting-edge tires – low rolling resistance, low abrasion and a good grip on wet roads. This development further strengthens LANXESS’s position as a world-leading manufacturer of synthetic rubber. As recently as the end of May, LANXESS opened the extension to its research and development center for high-performance rubbers at Qingdao in China. Customized and innovative products for Asia’s dynamic rubber market will be developed here.


New arsenic filter for drinking water and innovative leather protection


A further example of the projects presented comes from the Ion Exchange Resins business unit, which is developing a new ion exchange resin for the selective removal of arsenic from drinking water. This product idea enables worldwide compliance with the limit set by the World Health Organization of 10 micrograms per liter for the amount of arsenic in drinking water. It is a LANXESS development that makes a key contribution to improving the quality of drinking water.


And the Leather business unit will be presenting a new technology that provides leather with long-term protection against soiling. The new water-based product range makes leather resistant to cleaning without affecting key functional properties, a breakthrough that gives LANXESS the technological lead in this field of leather manufacture.
110 research projects completed in 2008


The Innovation Day forms part of a campaign focusing on research and development at LANXESS. With targeted investments, the specialty chemicals group has completed 110 research and development projects in the past year alone, and there are around 100 projects in the pipeline at present. Over 450 employees are currently working on new ideas at the specialty chemical group’s research centers around the globe. This figure is 11 percent higher than in 2007.  The Group currently holds around 6,300 patents in total. The top priority for innovations at LANXESS is their cost-effectiveness. “Our aim is to translate all innovations and product enhancements into marketable products as quickly as possible. We are planning to have 80 percent of our current R&D projects ready for the market within two years,” explains Breuers.

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In 2005, LANXESS was initially listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and LANXESS Chemical (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. officially started its operation. Today, LANXESS has 11 subsidiaries, 3 joint ventures and 6 R&D centers in China, with 850 employees.