German chemical and plastics producer Lanxess (Cologne; www.lanxess.com) is planning to invest around EUR 25m this year for efficiency improvements at its production sites for polyamides and precursors for plastics in Lillo, near Antwerp / Belgium. "Our integrated production complex in Lillo is the backbone of our global business for high-tech plastics. Given the trend toward lightweight construction in the automotive industry, for example, this is a major future market," says Matthias Zachert, chairman of the board of management at Lanxess. Since 2004, the company has invested more than EUR 300m in Lillo, which Zachert calls a "firm commitment" to the location. The announcement was made on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of caprolactam production at the Belgian site.

In recent years, Lanxess has focused on balancing the integrated value chain for the production of PA and other engineering plastics, which is why most of the intermediates produced are now for captive use. A milestone in the implementation of this strategy was the construction of a polymerisation plant in the summer of 2014, with a PA 6 capacity of 90,000 t/y, which is directly connected to the caprolactam production facility (see Plasteurope.com of 03.07.2014). The polyamide produced there is shipped to the company's compounding plants all over the world, where it is further processed. The complex in Antwerp has a capacity of 220,000 t/y of caprolactam. Since the start-up of the plant 50 years ago, the company not only expanded capacity, but also modernised the plant. One recent major measure has been the implementation of a nearly self-sufficient energy infrastructure.

Lanxess operates three production sites in the port area of Antwerp. Caprolactam and PA are produced in Lillo, and glass fibres and rubber chemicals are manufactured in Kallo. In addition, Arlanxeo (Maastricht / The Netherlands; www.arlanxeo.com), a joint venture between Lanxess and Saudi Aramco, produces synthetic rubber at the Zwijndrecht site. In total, the German group employs approximately 1,250 people in Belgium.