Speciality chemicals company Lanxess produces iron oxide and chrome oxide pigments for numerous applications in the world’s largest production plant for inorganic colour pigments in Krefeld-Uerdingen in Germany and has been doing so for 90 years. Whether in the paint on the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the red asphalt in front of Buckingham Palace in London or numerous products encountered in our day-to-day lives, pigments from Lanxess are in use all around the world. What began very modestly 90 years ago has turned into a genuine success story. Since its launch in 1926, more than 13Mt of pigments have left the plant in Krefeld-Uerdingen.
The latest groundbreaking innovation is the new plant in Ningbo, China. The Inorganic Pigments business unit –including staff at the Krefeld site – developed a completely new technology, known as the ‘Ningbo Process’, for the plant, which has since become another global benchmark for sustainable iron oxide production.
