Specialty chemicals company LANXESS is strengthening its butyl rubber plant in Zwijndrecht, Belgium. The company has significantly invested to expand the production capacity of the existing plant and to build two new pilot plants for the development of production technology for butyl rubber. With the expansion costing EUR 20 million, the capacity of the facility increased by 10 % to 150,000 metric tonnes of butyl rubber per year.  In addition to the expansion in Zwijndrecht, LANXESS is building a new butyl rubber facility on Jurong Island, Singapore, with a total capacity of 100,000 metric tonnes per year. The plant is expected to start up in the first quarter of 2013.