Lanxess (Cologne / Germany; www.lanxess.com) is planning to invest around EUR 200m over the next three years to expand flame retardants production. "With the acquisition of the US company Chemtura in spring 2017 we became one of the world’s leading suppliers of flame retardant additives," said Karsten Job, head of Polymer Additives. Asked about the expansion measures and locations, a spokesperson told Plasteurope.com that nothing concrete can yet be said about the details.

The German speciality chemicals company operates a backward-integrated production network for bromine- and phosphorous-based flame retardants, with plants in Épierre / France, Leverkusen / Germany, Krefeld-Uerdingen / Germany, Manchester / UK, Charleston, South Carolina / USA, El Dorado, Arkansas / USA and Greensboro, North Carolina / USA. According to the spokesperson, the European sites are more likely to produce phosphorous-based products, while the US plants acquired through the purchase of Chemtura – see Plasteurope.com of 27.09.2016 – are focused on bromine-based flame retardants. These include the El Dorado site, where the capacity for the polymeric flame retardant "Emerald 3000" is 14,000 t/y, but not the plant in Charleston, which was taken over from Solvay in 2017 – see Plasteurope.com of 23.05.2017 – and specialises in phosphorous-based speciality chemicals. Lanxess also has two technical development centres for flame retardant additives in Leverkusen and in Naugatuck, Connecticut / USA.

Lanxess generated sales of EUR 9.7 bn in 2017 – see Plasteurope.com of 20.03.2018. The company has 73 production sites worldwide and employs around 19,200 people.