Leverkusen - The specialty chemicals company will naturally continue this engagement concerning water this year. Therefore LANXESS would today like to draw your attention to the official “World Water Day”. This has taken place every year since 1993, on March 22. Since 2003 it has been organized by UN-Water and aims to focus public attention on critical water-related issues.

Water remains one of LANXESS’ central areas of focus and plays an important role in the group’s research and development: The Ion Exchange Resins Business Unit in particular provides innovative solutions in water processing – and this product range is being continually expanded. For example, in December of last year the most state of the art ion-exchange plants in all of Asia were opened in the Jhagadia Chemical Industrial Park in India, and the new membrane technology plant in Bitterfeld is also making enormous advancements and is running according to schedule. Through these technologies, which are a new development for LANXESS, the group is opening up new areas of application in the field of water processing. Sales in the global membrane market alone are estimated at around one million Euros – and still rising. The first products should come to the market by the end of the year.

Furthermore, LANXESS supports numerous campaigns around the world involving this valuable liquid. The most recent project entails offering support to the two “Water Cyclists” from Great Britain. With an ambitious cycling trip from England to Hong Kong, the two students, Jon Lee and Micheil Gordon, hope to raise 22,222 Euros for the charitable organization “Water Aid”, and at the same time to focus the attention of people in Europe and Asia to water as an important environmental concern. In so doing, the two cyclists will pass by several LANXESS sites – so far they have stopped of in Belgium and Germany, where they informed interested employees of their unusual mission.