Botlek - where the world's purest benzoic acid comes from

Since last year, there has been a new LANXESS site in the Botlek Industrial Park in the Netherlands. It is part of our new Flavors & Fragrances business unit. It has a total of 129 employees. There, we produce the purest benzoic acid in the world.

 "We achieve a purity level of up to 99.95 or even 99.96 percent," says an employee in the laboratory at the Botlek Industrial Park in the Netherlands. She knows it best because she checks the quality of the benzoic acid every day. It is the purest of its kind in the world and can only be obtained from Botlek. The main product, Purox B Liquid®, is available in liquid form and solid form as Purox B Flakes®. The purity of benzoic acid makes it harmless as a preservative in foodstuffs. In a further process step, sodium benzoate is produced and marketed as Purox S Grains® and Kalaguard®. These high-purity products are also used as preservatives in food, cosmetics and detergents. 

Since 2004, the main product benzoic acid has been produced in Botlek via the oxidation process. In its various product forms, it is used as a preservative in liquid, flake, or - when it has been processed into sodium benzoate - almost powder form. Another derivative of the main product is the phthalate-free plasticizer K-FLEX®, which has been in production since 2012. Our Polymer Additives business unit markets it for industrial use. Half of the benzaldehydes goes directly to our site in Widnes, England, which processes it in its flavors and fragrances. Benzyl alcohol accounts for a small part of the product range. It is also used as a preservative, but also as a fragrance fixative.

Site manager Mark d'Angremond's schedule is tight. The integration into the LANXESS Group is now added to the day-to-day business. The site would like to expand its capacities and also quickly achieve its sustainability goals. Investments are necessary to achieve this. The plan, d'Angremond says, is to increase production in two steps. By 10,000 metric tons by the end of 2022 and by another 10,000 metric tons the following year. "This would then increase our production by 15 to 20 percent. Modernization is necessary for many areas," says Marc d'Angremond. He is thinking, among other things, of digitalization, which is now also to be driven forward more strongly in production. The site has been in operation for 61 years. 

A current major challenge is the environmental issue. Ten years ago, the site took a big step towards energy efficiency with a new steam supply system. But further innovations are needed. For the time being, d'Angremond would like to see closer cooperation with other companies on site. Energy generated, such as steam, can then be used as efficiently as possible at any time of the day or night. A new large wastewater treatment plant is also being planned. 

The integration also allows d'Angremond to exchange ideas with LANXESS colleagues globally. "We can still learn a lot from each other. Our know-how in the production processes is very good, but we also know that we can still benefit greatly from the experts at LANXESS, especially in terms of optimizing energy efficiency."