German chemical producer Lanxess has started up its new world-scale polyamide plant at Antwerp, Belgium.

The 90,000 t/y facility was built at a cost of €75 million and will supply mostly automotive industry customers. It will operate in the direct vicinity of the company's caprolactam plant and will allow it to increase captive use of the PA feedstock.

All of the PA produced at Antwerp will be compounded by Lanxess' global network into the final Durethan-brand products and reinforced with glass fiber to customer specifications. The company also produces glass fiber at the Belgian site.

A logistics facility is also part of the expanded Lanxess site.