Specialty chemicals company LANXESS – more specifically, LPT business unit
(Liquid Purification Technologies) – recently developed a new mixed-bed resin
for ultra-pure water in semiconductor production. Compared with existing
Lewatit UltraPure 1296 MD mixed-bed resin, the new UltraPure 1296 MD PLUS
boasts lower content of metals like iron, zinc and sodium. One of the world’s
three leading ion exchange resin (IXR) manufacturers, LPT business unit has
advanced solutions regarding IXR, iron oxide adsorbers, etc. Hence the ability
to satisfy special requirements from sustainable development technologies.
Diversified products
A kind of polymers with functional groups, ion exchange resins are used to
remove harmful ionic impurities from liquid, exchange non-critical ions and
displace valuable metals and compounds. Global population growth and
development of urbanization propel industrial production, influencing main ion
exchange resin segment markets such as power and drinking water. Consumers’
attention to water quality is on the rise, spurring demand for household filter
element and softening systems. Further, environmental regulations are becoming
more stringent, and water shortage is worsening in many parts of the world.
Hence, the ion exchange resin market is forecast to grow by 4% annually.
LPT’s main brand is innovative ion exchange resin series Lewatit?, including
WAC, SAC, WBA, SBA and selective resin products, and superior in chemical/
mechanical stability, dynamic performance, selectivity. Other advantages mainly
include high capacity, long life cycle, low cost of reproduction and good
economic benefit. Special products could be used in many high-end areas of
ultra-pure water, food, metal purification and recycling, etc.
Bayoxide? is another brand of LPT. The core of the Bayoxide? system is a solid
bed of iron oxide beads. In their decades of use all around the world, iron oxide
adsorbers from LANXESS have been regarded as a reliable means of removing
arsenic from drinking and waste water.
LPT has developed LewaPlus? for water treatment systems. LewaPlus? is a
calculation and design software for modelling and dimensioning of diverse ion
exchange resin systems under a variety of system configurations, including some
unique process configurations only available with Lewatit? ion exchange resins.
LewaPlus? not only offers the possibility of treating one flow after another, but
also enables the development of complex treatment systems (two-dimensional)
with different technologies.
Leading player in the area of liquid purification
The manufacturing of semiconductors and displays calls for complex water
treatment to ensure that the water used is of the required purity. The latest
generation of wafers and microchips demands a correspondingly high level of
quality from the ion exchange resin systems employed. Furthermore, new
analytical systems are capable of analyzing ions in the low ppt (parts per trillion)
range. For some types of ions, they can go as low as the ppq (parts per
quadrillion) range. Achieving the performance of semiconductors required by
modern industry can necessitate as many as 200 treatment steps. The ultra-pure
water needed for this is provided by means of a complex multi-stage process.
The most important steps in the operation include conventional primary
demineralization with standard ion exchange resins, reverse osmosis,
degasification, ultrafiltration and hydrogen peroxide removal, while the last stage
is final polishing with an ultra-pure mixed bed. The new Lewatit UltraPure 1296
MD PLUS ion exchange resin type was developed specifically for this final step,
which is absolutely critical to the success of the process as a whole.
LPT solutions could be applied to many key industries. In detail, in the petroleum
and chemical industry, LPT solutions are used in chlor-alkali electrolysis, organic
chemical product purification, etc., and in the field of mining and metallurgy,
they are used to recycle base/precious metals, dispose waste water in mining
areas, etc. Food and beverage firms adopt LPT solutions to desalt and decolor
sugar/sweeteners, debitter fruit juice or beer, etc. In the area of water treatment,
LPT solutions could purify drinking/underground water, remove heavy metal ions
and organic pollutants from industrial wastewater, etc.
Global layout
LPT expands ion exchange resin and adsorber businesses to the whole world, by
means of global layout involving production network, research and application
laboratories, technical marketing centers, etc. LPT has three advanced ion
exchange resin production bases in Germany’s Leverkusen and Bitterfeld
Wolfen and India’s Jhagadia.
Since starting production in 1956, Leverkusen base has been upgrading and has
become the most mature one of the three. It produces special anions (based on
phthalimide), cation exchange resins and chelate resins. Further, the base has
new weak-acid cation exchange resin production lines, and the most advanced
equipment for food-grade filling and packaging.
Founded in 1998, Bitterfeld Wolfen base produces monodisperse resins (gel and
macroporous types), and is one of the world’s largest modern ion exchange
resin plants. Focusing on the world’s fastest-growing ion exchange resin market
Asia, Jhagadia base was put into production in December 2010, and is equipped
with water treatment facility and CHP plant. Its products shall meet German
standards in the aspects of sustainability, safety and quality.
