With immediate effect, specialty chemicals company LANXESS will meet the growing demand for ion exchange resins for water treatment from its new production site for ion exchange resins in Jhagadia, which was launched in December 2010. Jean-Marc Vesselle, head of the Ion Exchange Resins (ION) business unit, was delighted that the facility in the Indian state of Gujurat that was officially inaugurated in December 2010 had started regular production on schedule following a successful test phase: “We have started up five of the six product lines and can now immediately supply Lewatit from Asia's most modern ion exchange resin plant. The first products are ready for transport and will be supplied on time.”

The new facility boasts an annual capacity of 35,000 metric tons. Around 200 company employees will manufacture products for industrial water treatment for the semi-conductor and pharmaceutical industries, the food sector and the power industry.

Overall, LANXESS has invested around EUR 60 million in the Jhagadia site to date. The new facility was constructed on an area totaling 180,000 square meters within a period of two years. Already during the planning phase, strict standards going beyond the stipulations of the authorities and regional environmental specifications applied. The wastewater is pre-cleaned in a separate wastewater treatment plant by LANXESS before it is released into the chemical park’s wastewater system. Huge amounts have been invested in environmentally friendly energy generation. LANXESS uses a cogeneration plant for the company’s own power station. This is run on natural gas. In total, around 20 percent of total construction costs were used for sustainability projects.

With its high-quality Lewatit ion exchange resins, adsorbers and functional polymers, LANXESS has more than 70 years of experience and expertise as a one-stop supplier of premium products for water treatment. The high-tech resins produced there are used in the fields of water treatment in power generation, microelectronics, and the drinking water and food preparation industries. In addition to Jhagadia, LANXESS also produces the tried and tested Lewatit ion exchange resins at sites in both Bitterfeld and Leverkusen, Germany. 

The business unit belongs to LANXESS’ Performance Chemicals segment, which achieved total sales in fiscal 2010 of EUR 1.98 billion.