German speciality chemicals group Lanxess (Leverkusen; www.lanxess.com) has announced that amid growing demand it is increasing capacity of its “Mesamoll” range of phthalate-free plasticisers. “Sales of our phthalate-free plasticiser Mesamoll are already growing at an annual rate of around 15%,” said Jorge Nogueira, head of Functional Chemicals, explaining the reasoning behind Lanxess’ decision to invest “a mid-single-digit amount in million euros” into expanding capacity at its plant in Krefeld-Uerdingen / Germany by 40%. The new capacity is scheduled to come on stream by the end of this year.

Mesamoll II recently was approved for use in food applications by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA; www.efsa.europa.eu) – see Plasteurope.com of 01.07.2010 – and Lanxess hopes it will make inroads in the global toy market as well.

The Mesamoll range includes a new “Mesamoll TP LXS 51067” fast-solvating plasticiser for PVC processing, which Lanxess says is particularly suitable for plastic floor coverings and wall coatings. Another new addition to the range is the “Mesamoll TP LXS 51099” bonding agent designed for manufacturing PVC advertising boards, dinghies and bouncy castles.