LIFE brings innovation to life!

LIFE stands for LANXESS Innovation Fund & Energizer. As unwieldy as the acronym may sound, it rings true for the four winners of the LIFE budget. Through its financial support, LIFE ensures that the PLA, F&F, IPG, and MPP business units can develop their most innovative and economically promising new products for technology, agriculture, power storage, and industrial plants.

Sustainable cable clutter

A biologically safe plasticizer: this is what convinced the LIFE jury about the PLA business unit.

There is a great demand for sustainable and harmless plasticizers. After all, they make up 40 to 50 percent of many PVC products. Even though the issue of sustainability takes a back seat in difficult economic times, Jan-Gerd Hansel, Head of Research and Development at the Polymer Additives Business Unit, is convinced that it will regain importance: “And then we'll be ready.”

The Business Unit is researching such a plasticizer for PVC applications. The initial focus is on the wire and cable industry. “We can draw on insights we gained years ago in our research,” says Hansel.

In the new project, particular attention is being paid to the selection of suitable raw materials. To this end, the team is currently investigating various synthesis building blocks that come from renewable sources or can be produced in a CO₂-neutral manner. Collaboration with other business units plays a crucial role in this. The goal is to procure suitable sustainable raw materials at competitive prices. “This is a crucial aspect,” says Hansel. The cost pressure among PVC manufacturers is enormous: China is flooding Europe with cheap products, meaning that even environmentally friendly plasticizers cannot exceed certain price thresholds.

Environmentally friendly production
This production process does not generate any salts or environmentally harmful waste, only water. This simplifies the entire manufacturing process. “And we also comply with the strict European and US regulations,” says Hansel.

The project convinced the LIFE jury, which approved a two-year budget for the team. “That's what we were counting on,” says Hansel. Now they can hire a lab technician who, together with the application engineering team, will devote himself entirely to testing in order to obtain the plasticizer with the best properties. “Of course, we are also in contact with our customers and want to tailor the product to their wishes,” says Hansel.

Plasticizers account for about one-fifth of the PLA BU's sales. The new green high-performance plasticizer could account for a larger share of this or open up a new business area. The team also took this into account in its application. “Together with our colleagues Gizem Cinar from Application Technology, Miriam Bührle from Production, and Max Siebenbrock from Marketing, we were able to present a convincing application concept,” says Hansel.

Fresh on the shelf

Mold is a problem for farmers – a sustainable fungicide from the F&F BU is now helping them combat it.

Since 2020, the F&F business unit has discovered agriculture for itself. Together with a partner, they want to obtain approval for a fungicide in accordance with EU regulations for the first time. “Our partner contributes expertise in the agricultural sector, while we contribute expertise in benzoic acid and formulation development,” says Senior Project Manager Doris Pfeiffer. The product, which is based on benzoic acid as an active ingredient, is convincing – the acid has been used in the cosmetics and food industries for decades and is therefore on the GRAS list (“Generally recognized as safe”) in the USA. “However, approval in the EU is a challenge due to the rules and regulations,” says Pfeiffer. “That's why we initially only applied for approval for apples, pears, tomatoes, and ornamental plants in greenhouses in the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, and Spain,” says Andre Grossmann, Head of Innovation and Business Development BU F&F. Even with this restriction, the scope of the studies required is enormous.

Replacing organic solvents
In the meantime, Grossmann's team received feedback from its partners and from various field studies. The conclusion was that the product could be significantly improved if the organic solvent were replaced. “The brilliant idea came to us during a meeting with our cooperation partner. We wanted to try it with our benzoic acid in water,” recalls Torsten Groth, external consultant. This approach was passed on to Amber Yarnell, head of the research laboratory in Kalama, BU F&F. After a year and a half of successful research, the optimized product Styraxo® 3.0 is now available: a sustainable and effective fungicide based on biodegradable, nature-identical benzoic acid. The new formulation was immediately patented.

Improved solution for farmers
Based on the good biodegradability data, Pfeiffer and Grossmann expect that Styraxo® 3.0 can be used up to a few days before harvest. Normally, fungicides may be applied to the fruit for the last time 30 days before harvest. “This is often a problem for farmers, as many fruits are particularly sensitive shortly before and after harvest,” says Grossmann. Styraxo® 3.0 would provide them with an improved solution for this situation.

Approvals for Styraxo® 3.0 are currently being prepared in several countries with different climate zones. Since each country has its own regulations, F&F needs a suitable registration partner in each case to navigate the regulatory jungle more quickly. For example, the efficacy of the product must be demonstrated on the target plants in the respective country over two to four seasons. These field studies and the preparation of the respective dossiers are time-consuming and expensive. “With financial support from LIFE until 2028, we will now reach our goal much faster,” Grossmann is convinced.

The Innovation Excellence Committee justified its decision as follows: “With Styraxo® 3.0, LANXESS is setting new standards in the field of sustainable plant treatment. It is a strong signal for innovation and responsibility.”

Clever storage

With iron phosphate as a precursor for LFP cathode materials, the IPG business unit is one of the few Western suppliers worldwide.

One thing is certain: wherever electricity is generated and used, storage is necessary. Whether it's wind turbines, solar panels or even electric cars, China is ahead of the game in this area and is flooding the world with its batteries. “We want to use our iron phosphates as precursors in battery technology to help reduce this dependency,” says Murat Gürsoy, Head of Innovation at the IPG business unit. He estimates the economic potential of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries to be very high: “We would be one of the few Western suppliers in this field.”

Sustainable battery materials
This convinced the LIVE jury. The research project will now receive financial support until 2028. The jury justified its decision as follows: “The project gives LANXESS a strategic advantage in the rapidly growing market for LFP batteries and positions the company as a pioneer in sustainable battery materials.”

Gürsoy and his team are currently still in the development phase. “We are testing our samples on a small scale first and then in our pilot plants. After that, we will send them to our potential customers. Their feedback is very important to us.” This work—testing, analyzing, modifying—requires time and, of course, expertise. But Gürsoy is optimistic: “We expect to be able to produce the first quantities in 2027.” Interest is high. As far as is known, there are currently no iron phosphate manufacturers with significant capacities on the North American continent.

Iron phosphate consists of iron and phosphorus, both of which are harmless to the environment and readily available – in contrast to the precursors commonly used for lithium-ion batteries, which consist of nickel, cobalt, and manganese. “The largest supplier of nickel is Russia, cobalt is mined under questionable conditions in the Congo, and the EU has once again classified manganese as a critical raw material for battery chemistry in 2023,” says Gürsoy. In addition, LFP batteries offer major advantages in terms of safety: for example, they are not as flammable.

Exemplary organic growth Iron phosphate production would initially take place in Krefeld-Uerdingen. This area of battery chemicals is a new business field for the IPG business unit and could represent exemplary organic growth within the Group. New business structures would also have to be created, for example in the marketing and sales areas.

Gürsoy's optimism is based on facts: even though sales of electric vehicles are currently sluggish, the market for stationary storage stations is developing very positively. In addition, the EU has made it clear through various subsidy programs and statements that it wants to become independent of Chinese manufacturers. The project would now also benefit from the high tariffs imposed on Chinese products in the US. “We are already in contact with US manufacturers who are interested in our research,” says Gürsoy.

MPP wins with the SourSweet project

The business unit is working on a new active ingredient.

The research project is still in its infancy. Initial molecule developments and trials are taking place at the MPP research laboratory in Wilmington, USA. However, for patent reasons, no further details about the project can or may be disclosed. Xpress will report in detail at a later date. Suffice it to say that the project also has a cross-BU aspect. The scaling up from laboratory scale to initial pilot production is to be carried out jointly with the Saltigo business unit in Leverkusen. In line with the ONE LANXESS philosophy, development for large-scale production is also to be carried out jointly with Saltigo.

“Precisely because we are still in the early stages of development, we are very pleased to have secured the LIFE budget. This will enable us to strengthen our research laboratory in Wilmington, build new research capabilities, and advance the project more quickly,” says project manager Mark Kubik, MPP business unit, adding: “The additional resources will allow us to conduct further development experiments, which will increase the chances of a successful market entry.”