Four promising electrification options for LANXESS

To electrify a large energy consumer at their Rotterdam production site, LANXESS recently enlisted the help of the Fieldlab Industrial Electrification (FLIE). After researching and working closely with LANXESS, FLIE came up with four promising options.

At its Rotterdam production site, LANXESS makes benzoic acid, benzaldehyde and benzyl alcohol. They are excipients found in everyday products such as toothpaste, medicines, perfume, cosmetics and as preservatives in food. And LANXESS even provides flexibility for the popular vinyl flooring, in which benzoic acid is used as an eco-friendly plasticiser.

Granulator
Ana de la Cal has been working at LANXESS Rotterdam for two years. Her role as Superintendent Operations Improvement is multifaceted. "My team supports the operations team and continuously looks for improvement opportunities in terms of cost, efficiency, quality and safety," Ana explains. "A large and important part of our production process for sodium benzoate - a preservative we make from benzoic acid - is the granulator," Ana says. "This large plant requires a lot of heat. So far, we provide that heat with natural gas. But in time, we want and need to get rid of natural gas."

Replacing natural gas as a heat source is necessary but complicated. After all, it is a highly efficient way to reach high temperatures quickly. Nevertheless, LANXESS decided to start looking into whether it would be possible to electrify heat production for their granulator ahead of the 2040 target. And in doing so, they enlisted the help of the Fieldlab Industrial Electrification (FLIE).

Expertise and enthusiasm


Senior Operations Engineer Pieter de Laat of LANXESS has also had good experiences in his contacts with FLIE: "I enjoyed working with FLIE as a sparring partner and technical encyclopaedia. Their attitude is positive and you notice from everything that there is a lot of expertise in electrification and enthusiasm about it. During the process, I provided them with the necessary information on this process component and they came up with constructive solutions for every challenge. I am very solution-oriented myself so that working method appealed to me a lot."

Lanxess 1852 2

About FLIE

FLIE is a joint initiative of Deltalinqs, FME, Port of Rotterdam, InnovationQuarter and TNO and is closely supported by the Province of South Holland, the Municipality of Rotterdam and the ERDF grant.

Does your organisation have sustainability ambitions and would you like to explore the possibilities of electrification? Or do you provide an electrification solution and would you like to get in touch with end users and other important stakeholders? Then get in touch with us. We would love to help you!

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