LANXESS, the world’s leading manufacturer of synthetic iron oxide pigments, kicked off its first Pigments Symposium under the topic “Sustainable Technology for a Clean Environment” in Shanghai today, November 22.

More than 140 participants including customers and distributors from the industry as well as representatives from academia, government, associations and media gathered together with LANXESS executives and experts, sharing trends and outlooks for the inorganic pigments industry with a special focus on sustainability both globally and in China. In addition, LANXESS used the symposium to introduce a new-to-the-market technology in the sustainable manufacturing of light shade red pigments.

China has become the world’s largest consumer and biggest production base for the coatings industry. In the long run, the urbanization megatrend in China will continue to propel the coatings market to grow at a double-digit rate, according to industry experts.

“China will remain a strong driver for global pigment demand. In particular, environmentally-friendly products are expected to outperform the market, due to growing awareness of the eco-compatibility and increasing requirements for high-quality products. This applies not only to the products but even more to the method of manufacturing them,” said Joerg Hellwig, Head of the LANXESS Inorganic Pigments business unit.


Sustainability – a matter of principle

The chemical industry plays a major role in the quest for sustainability as technology advancement and manufacturing process optimization can bring huge benefits, not only economically, but also ecologically.

“As a leading player in the inorganic pigments industry, we are convinced that we will only be able to continue to operate successfully in the future if we act in a sustainable way towards the environment and society, as well as towards our business,” said Hellwig. “We do not make compromises on either economics or ecology.“


Optimized Penniman Red technology – a major step forward

LANXESS Inorganic Pigments is playing a pioneering role in developing environmentally compatible pigment manufacturing processes. At the symposium, LANXESS technical experts introduced a major step forward in Penniman Red production technology with an important innovation recently developed in this field.

LANXESS is building a new facility for premium iron oxide red pigments in Ningbo, China, using the Penniman process optimized by the company to ensure high environmental compatibility by optimizing water treatment and waste gas cleaning. The plant, characterized by its particularly high energy efficiency, is designed to meet and exceed the latest environmental standards.

“With this plant we will be the first inorganic pigments’ manufacturer that is able to produce these yellow shade red pigments in an environmentally-friendly and consistent way,” said Wolfgang Oehlert, Head of Technical Operations at LANXESS Inorganic Pigments.


ChinaCoat - sustainable solutions for the coatings industry

The symposium is held in conjunction with the renowned tradeshow ChinaCoat 2013, Shanghai, November 20 to 22. LANXESS’ Inorganic Pigments business unit has featured a full range of products under the brand names Bayferrox and Colortherm during the show. As a highlight of this year’s show, the Inorganic Pigments business unit introduced innovative premium products like the New Red pigments produced by the Penniman Red process.These highly saturated red iron oxide pigments complement LANXESS’ existing product range and strengthen LANXESS’ position to serve both the growing local market in China and the global market.