Specialty chemicals company LANXESS has doubled the production capacity for benzyl alcohol at its U.S. site in Kalama, Washington to support the growth of its established customer base in the Americas. The capacity expansion is the result of various technical upgrades.

“With our innovative purification process, LANXESS is the world’s leading producer of benzyl alcohol. The Kalama site now serves as the central hub in our global plant network of four sites producing high-purity benzyl alcohol,” said Holger Hueppeler, Global Head of LANXESS’ Flavors & Fragrances business unit. “By doubling Kalama’s production capacity we can provide fast international deliveries and offer a resilient supply chain that can cope with increasing geopolitical uncertainties.” 

Three Grades for a Wide Range of Applications

Benzyl alcohol is used as a preservative, solvent, fragrance fixative and intermediate and is highly valued due to its low volatility and low toxicity. The colorless liquid with a pleasant, mild aroma is suitable for many customer needs. The parenteral grade has a purity of 99.9 percent, offering the highest quality for pharmaceutical products such as preservatives for injection solutions. The NF/FCC grade, given to chemicals that meet the requirements of the United States National Formulary (NF) and the Food Chemicals Codex (FCC), is an effective, high purity preservative for personal care products and cosmetics. The stable odor profile is beneficial in the production of fragrances and food flavorings. It can also be used as a solvent in technical applications. The technical grade benzyl alcohol is an excellent solvent and starting material in chemical synthesis. 

LANXESS also produces benzyl alcohol at its sites in Krefeld-Uerdingen (Germany), Botlek (Netherlands) and Nagda (India). 

The business unit has around 750 employees and is part of LANXESS' Consumer Protection segment which generated sales of about EUR 2.4 billion in 2022.

For more information, visit https://lanxess.com/en/Company/Corporate-Structure/Business-Units/Flavors-and-Fragrances