LANXESS, a specialty chemicals company has begun expanding its menthol facility. They are planning to double the capacity of the plant at the site located at Krefeld-Uerdingen so that they could meet the ever growing demands of the global markets.
They plan to complete the project by the first half of 2012. According to Dr.Hubert Fink, who is the Head of LANXESS Advanced Industrial Intermediates Business Unit (AII), the production of additional quantities of crude D and menthol, thymol and I-menthol would help their partner Symrise to accept long term supply agreements and this would also show the commitment of the company towards promoting the North Rhine-Westphalia and Germany as industrial locations.
Fink along with a number of LANXESS employees attended the ground-breaking ceremony, which was conducted on the 20th of July. Dr. Heinz- Jürgen Bertram, the CEO of Symrise along with four employees of Symrise was also present.
LANXESS is the leading manufacturer of synthetic menthol and thymol in the world mainly because of its long standing collaboration with Symrise. They would supply Symrise with both the menthol precursor thymol and menthol in all the grades and purities, which were required by the Pharmaceutical industry. Symrise would in turn convert these products into flavorings and scents, which are used in the world in products and applications such as candy and chewing gum and other oral hygiene applications. Other pharmaceutical products such as sport balms and also cosmetics use high-grade menthol, which provides a great cooling effect especially needed for painful injuries and so on.
The new production facility would use a greatly efficient and new catalyst made from cresol stem found in the AII production network on the Lower Rhine. This catalyst had been created by the LANXESS research team. An energy recovery unit, which had been created along with LANXESS Innovation group function, would also be installed for improving the energy balance for menthol. By fall 2011, three huge distillation columns would be erected.