LANXESS inaugurates a new Waste Water Post Treatment Plant at its site in Nagda

November 28, 2012, Nagda: LANXESS, the global leader in specialty chemicals having a manufacturing site in Nagda, Madhya Pradesh today announced the opening of a new Waste Water Post Treatment Plant at its site. This plant, built with an investment of nearly INR 35 crore, will treat the discharge from the existing Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) in a manner that virtually no liquid effluent is discharged from the site. The water recovered from the waste water post treatment plant can be used for the production processes, which will bridge the gap in availability of water during the summer months.

The inauguration event was marked by the presence of senior government officials and representatives from the local administration, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany, Mr. Michael Siebert, senior management of LANXESS, members of the media and LANXESS employees.

Explaining the significance of this plant, Dr. Hubert Fink, Head of Business Unit Advanced Industrial Intermediates (AII), LANXESS AG said on the occasion, “The LANXESS operation in Nagda is an important pillar for the Business Line Benzyl Products and Inorganic Acids of the business unit AII. This site not only caters to the domestic market but also serves customers in different markets worldwide. It is therefore significant that we are not only producing world class products at this plant in Nagda but are also reaching new levels of sustainable development.”

LANXESS’ Nagda site has a full fledged effluent treatment plant (ETP) and a state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant which treats sewage water from the colonies around and renders it fit for use in the production processes. After a reverse osmosis step, this water is then used as boiler feed water. Taking another initiative towards sustainability, LANXESS decided to study whether there is a possibility to recycle the entire treated waste water.

The development of the waste water treatment process involved several surveys on water composition from different sources as well as additional measures to pre-condition the waste water for the treatment concept. This included trials and pilot runs and subsequently, the company zeroed in on a concept for the waste water post treatment that involves a reverse osmosis process followed by an evaporation step.

Dr. Joerg Strassburger, Managing Director and Country Representative, LANXESS India, said on the occasion, “We are happy that we have been able to create new benchmarks in this area in India and we would continue to invest in further improving our levels of safety and sustainability at our manufacturing facilities in India”.

On the inauguration, Mr. Neelanjan Banerjee, Head of Business Unit - AII India and Senior Executive Director, LANXESS India, added, “In the last two years, we have made significant investments in upgrading this site in terms of health, safety and environment and for this plant too, we have used some of the best technologies available in the world and have partnered with some of the best known suppliers in this industry“.

Ever since the company’s formation, LANXESS has systematically laid the foundations for sustainable, profitable growth and is committed to continuously innovate and improve in the areas of Health, Safety, Environment and Quality (HSEQ). LANXESS is a member of the leading sustainable indices Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) World and FTSE4Good.