On the way to gold medals with Lanxess

Inorganic pigments from speciality chemicals company LANXESS have added colour to many major sporting events in the past. Now the products from the successful Bayferrox range are to do the same for the Sports Park in Barra da Tijuca, Brazil. "From August 5 to 21, 2016, when 10,000 athletes from 166 countries compete in 28 sporting events at the summer games in Rio, both the participants and spectators will literally be walking on LANXESS,” says Jörg Hellwig, head of the LANXESS Inorganic Pigments business unit. That’s because much of the area around the venues is colored with black and red pigments from LANXESS.

Premium pigments for design and safety

The ‘Olympic Way’, a boulevard of black and light grey concrete paving stones, meanders along the entire stretch from the entrance, past the 15 venues, to the tip of the triangular grounds. The 8cm-thick stones, placed in a wave shape, symbolise the confluence of the Rio Negro and Rio Solimões (Amazon River). The black-water Rio Negro gets its dark colouring form its high content of humic and fulvic acids, while the white-water Rio Solimões looks white when viewed at an angle on account of the mineral-based solids suspended in it. The rivers flow adjacent to one another over a distance of 11 kilometers before eventually converging. The concrete paving stones symbolising this ‘Meeting of the Waters’ were manufactured with more than 40t of the iron oxide black pigments Bayferrox 318 and Bayferrox 340.

Numerous quiet zones around the venues are also of coloured design, as is the large square in front of the public viewing park right off the boulevard. Their prominent red colouring comes from Bayferrox pigments. Drainage stones measuring 40x40x8cm and coloured with more than 20t of Bayferrox 110 have been laid over more than 12,000m² of the park. These highly water-permeable paving stones prevent puddles from forming after heavy rainfall.

Bayferrox pigments are also a prominent feature in the athlete’s village: the microasphalt for the cycle paths here was coloured with Bayferrox 130 iron oxide red pigment. The red colouring helps to enhance traffic safety by clearly marking the cycle paths as separate from the grey concrete pedestrian walkways. Even after the games are over, the colored surfaces will retain their brilliant appearance for decades to come thanks to the pigments’ outstanding weather resistance.

Sustainability first

Sustainability was of major importance to the organisers in designing the Sports Park in Barra da Tijuca. For example, water cisterns and treatment plants have been installed and the subsequent utilisation of the area as a new city quarter was included in the planning process from the outset. LANXESS, with all its various business fields, is a strong partner for sustainability. Its production processes are designed to conserve resources and preserve the environment – and to be safe and sustainable. All production facilities are certified to DIN ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 and audited regularly. State-of-the-art waste gas and wastewater treatment facilities at the respective sites help to avoid emissions almost entirely.