Lanxess partners with BP to use sustainable cyclohexane

Friedrichshafen, Germany — Chemical producer Lanxess has formed a partnership with energy company BP plc to use sustainably produced cyclohexane in Lanxess' plastics production.

BP will supply the cyclohexane to the Lanxess' production site in Antwerp, Belgium, starting in the fourth quarter of 2021, a news release said.

Lanxess uses cyclohexane in the production of nylon 6, which is used primarily in the automotive, electrical and consumer goods industries.

One of the biggest challenges the company has in creating sustainable products is availability of recycling processes and sourcing enough material, Lukas Schröer, global marketing manager of engineering plastics at Lanxess' High Performance Materials business unit, said at a news conference at Fakuma 2021 in Friedrichshafen.

BP won't be the only supplier of cyclohexane, but all of Lanxess' supply will be certified according to the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification, Schröer said.

The energy company uses bio-based and biocircular feedstocks, like rapeseed oil or biomass to produce the cyclohexane, the release said.

The quality of materials is important, Schröer said.

"Just having sustainable materials in the portfolio doesn't mean the customer or market ... is able to adopt the solution in their production," he said.

"We try to scout for new technology" to close recycling loops, "trying to identify and qualify as many material streams as possible," he said. "We're very confident we can supply big projects in the market that are, at the moment, supplied with our standard materials."

"With this partnership, both companies, which already have a long-standing business relationship, want to significantly advance the production of sustainable plastics," the release said.

"To meet the global challenges of climate change, creative approaches to solutions and collaboration are needed in service of our customers," Wolfgang Stückle, vice president of midstream refining and specialties solutions in Europe and Africa of BP, said in the release. "We are pleased to accompany Lanxess as a strong partner with a broad portfolio of raw materials from renewable sources."

"High-performance plastics are the solution for many sustainable products — for example, in various e-mobility applications," said Marcel Beermann, head of global procurement and logistics at Lanxess. "It is now important to also make the production of this valuable material sustainable. In this context, the use of bio-based raw materials, along with modern recycling processes, is a key lever."

Lanxess has also recently launched its new compound, a 92 percent sustainable alternative nylon 6, Durethan BLUEBKV60H2.0EF.

The glass-fiber-reinforced plastic grade is the first product in Lanxess' new "Scopeblue" brand, which consists of products that contain at least 50 percent recycled or bio-based raw materials, or has a carbon footprint at least 50 percent lower than that of conventional products, it said in a news release.

"A carbon-neutral future can become reality only if we start using more sustainable products," said Frederique van Baarle, head of the High Performance Materials division at Lanxess. "Our first product marketed under the Scopeblue brand represents a real solution for the circular economy."

The Scopeblue brand stands for "clean air and water," Jan Bender, head of marketing at Lanxess' High Performance Materials unit, said at Fakuma. "Blue is our earth and our world that we would like to see without any pollution in the future."

The new Durethan Blue, which is made with the sustainable cyclohexane, exhibits the same characteristics as its virgin material predecessor "and can be processed just as easily using exactly the same production tools and facilities with no conversion work needed," the release said.

The alternative materials used for nylon 6 "are chemically identical to their equivalents of fossil origin," it said. The material can be used in automotive construction for the production of car front ends, brake pedals and oil pans.

Lanxess hopes to, in the future, use more than 92 percent sustainable raw materials. That will require ammonia synthesized with carbon-neutral hydrogen.

"We are aware of our responsibility [to] waste management, water management. ... It's something that is not as [simple] as new products," Schröer said. The agenda of the company's engineering plastics business unit "is to find alternatives for every raw material in our products … [that] every business unit or product can make use of in the future."

"We have a long way to go and we have just started," he said. "There are many steps in the value chain, and with [that] you have many differing interests. That will be the challenge to put this together … and that will need time.

"We decided here to not wait for the overall solution for the complete automotive market," Schröer added. "We have solutions we can directly make with our capabilities [now]. We want to give the offer to the market so there's at least no excuses that there's no option."