Specialty chemicals company LANXESS will be present at Aquatech, the international trade show for the process water, drinking water and wastewater industries in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 6-9 Nov 2023. Its portfolio will feature ion exchange resins from the Lewatit product range and adsorbers under the Bayoxide brand.
At Aquatech, Dr Dirk Steinhilber from LANXESS will present the use selective Lewatit ion exchange resins for the removal of emerging contaminants, beyond per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on 8 Nov 2023.
“When it comes to choosing the right ion exchange processes, different aspects play a role. We are responding by developing resins based on sustainably produced raw materials,” said Dr Stefan Neufeind, head of technical marketing for the liquid purification technologies business unit at LANXESS. “Our LewaPlus design software is a tool that allows the potential of our resins to be leveraged. It covers the steps, from choosing the resins, processes and dimensioning plants to calculating investment, operating costs and optimising processes.”
Resins that LANXESS markets under the Scopeblue umbrella brand is reportedly used for products that have a renewable raw material content of more than 50% or a carbon footprint of less than half that of the equivalent product made from conventional raw materials.
To calculate the carbon footprint of its products, LANXESS has developed its own system solution: the product carbon footprint (PCF) engine. It was certified by TÜV Rheinland to ISO 14067 and draws upon internal and external data sources for calculating carbon footprints according to the ‘cradle-to-gate’ principle. This PCF data is available free of charge to customers.
The three weak acidic cation (WAC) exchange resins Lewatit S 8227, Lewatit S 8229 and Lewatit CNP P’s carbon footprints are reportedly at least 60% smaller than that of the conventional product. An area of application for these WAC resins is cartridges for water filters, which can be used for producing partially softened water in the preparation of, for example, hot drinks such as coffee and tea. Filter systems like these are used both in the home and commercially. According to internal LANXESS estimates, the ion exchange resin accounts for the largest share of these cartridges in terms of mass and volume, along with the plastic housing and the activated carbon they contain, meaning that their carbon footprint can be reduced by up to half.
LANXESS has also been offering its customers the free design software LewaPlus. The functional scope of the software has grown, and today it can be used for simple design tasks as well as complex simulations and cost calculations.
The software package features modules that enable the combined configuration of ion exchange, reverse osmosis (RO) and ultrafiltration stages. From power plants and industrial water–steam circuits through to drinking water treatment, wastewater treatment and food industry processes, LewaPlus allows both the loading and the regeneration phase to be modelled and adapted in line with customer-specific requirements and circumstances. In this way, new plants can be planned and the performance of existing installations checked and, if necessary, optimised. Another presentation entitled ‘LewaPlus – A tool for ion exchange systems evaluation and optimisation’ will be given by LANXESS expert Hans-Jürgen Wedemeyer on 7 Nov 2023.
