LANXESS inaugurates high-tech plastics plant in China

By OEM Update Editorial October 19, 2019 11:59 am IST

Specialty chemicals company LANXESS officially inaugurated its new plant in Changzhou, China, on September 25, 2019. The compounding facility produces Durethan- and Pocan-branded high-tech plastics, especially for the automotive sector and the electrical and electronics industry.

“This facility was built to address several strategically vital markets,” said Hubert Fink, member of the LANXESS board of management, in his speech at the opening ceremony. “In the automotive industry, light weight materials become more important in new mobility. At the same time, the electrical & electronics sector sees an increasing need for best-in-class flame retardant, easy flow and easily processable grades. With the new plant, we are responding to the trend towards the increased use of light weight materials. We are committed to this long-term development,” said Michael Zobel, Head of the High Performance Materials business unit.

Intelligent production is a substantial highlight of the new plant. From batching, hot melting, mixing, cooling, granulating, pellet cooling to palletising, the entire system is designed to be intelligent. For example, the batching system adopts multiple continuous loss-in-weight feeders to realise continuous production. The pellet processing system can conduct feeding and convey in a fully automated manner. The high-temperature plastic strands from the extruder can automatically enter a cooling bath for full cooling, before being sent to the automatic conveyor, and then to the pelletiser for granulation.