LANXESS Opens Rubber Research Center in Qingdao  

LANXESS AG has opened a new center for rubber research in Qingdao, Shandong province, eastern China. The company has invested around EUR 10 million in the project. The new research center is located in the immediate proximity of the Qingdao University of Science and Technology, enabling close cooperation with the university in future years.
   LANXESS has consistently expanded its research network in China. Back in 1997, it opened a R & D laboratory for leather chemicals in Wuxi near Shanghai. In 2005, the company inaugurated a center for technical rubber in Shanghai, and in 2007 opened the Semi-Crystalline Products Research and Development Testing Center in Wuxi. The same year, the Performance Butadiene Rubbers business unit signed a cooperation agreement with the Beijing Institute for Rubber Research, and in 2008, LANXESS opened a microbiological laboratory for material protection products in Wuxi.