Lanxess to build leather chemicals plant in South Africa

Karl Gassen, Managing Director, Lanxess, South Africa.

NEWCASTLE, SOUTH AFRICA: Lanxess is investing €40 million to build a CO₂ concentration unit at Newcastle, South Africa. At this site, the group operates a highly modern plant that mainly produces sodium dichromate which is further processed into chrome tanning materials for the global leather industry. It is the only site of its kind in South Africa. The production technology requires permanent supply of highly concentrated CO₂. Construction of the new unit will start in the first quarter of 2012, and commissioning of the unit is planned for the second half of 2013.

The new unit will capture and filter exhaust air from the sites’ steam production process, concentrate the CO₂ level up to 99 per cent and feed it into the production process. “This investment further strengthens our unique value creation chain for chrome-based specialty chemicals here in South Africa and underlines our strong commitment to the country and the community of Newcastle. Additionally, Lanxess runs a production site for rubber chemicals in Isithebe, north of Durban,” said Karl Gassen, Managing Director, Lanxess, South Africa.

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