Special chemistry concern Lanxess AG has created a new prepolymer for adhesives, the company said.

Isocyanate prepolymers are substances with a low free monomer content of less than 0.1 mass. % free MDI. This property allows the new product to meet more stringent regulatory requirements. The product also improves the technical characteristics of adhesives.

Ronald M. Emanuel, a senior researcher at the company, said the goal of the development is to create prepolymers with a low content of free monomers for use in adhesives and sealants. In particular, this relates to overcoming the differences that are present when removing residual diisocyanate monomer, to the effectiveness of the final adhesive composition.

It was previously reported that in March 2018, Lanxess commissioned a new compounding line at a plant in Krefeld-Uerdingen (Krefeld-Uerdingen, Germany). The company notes that it invested EUR7 million in a new production line that will produce technical plastics such as polyamide 6 (PA6), polyamide 66 (PA66) and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT). The capacity of the new line is 10 thousand tons per year.

Lanxess is a leading concern in special chemistry, reaching EUR7.2 billion in 2018. The concern employs about 15,400 people in 33 countries. Currently, the concern includes 60 manufacturing enterprises. Lanxess’s main areas of activity are the development, production and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals and plastics. The concern is included in the lists of the world’s leading sustainable development indices: the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI World and Europe) and FTSE4Good.