materials feature | Titanium dioxide
Argex is planning to scale up its CTL mineral extraction process for the production of high purity TiO2
Last year, Argex signed a technology collaboration
agreement with paint company PPG Industries to develop and optimise pigment grade TiO2
coatings. At the time, Argex said the TiO2
for paints and was intended
to be compatible with various end-use applications for PPG and would be produced by Argex. Then this June, the two companies entered into a long-term supply agreement. PPG previously manufactured titanium dioxide using the chloride process at its former Natrium, West Virginia chemicals plant and sold titanium dioxide pigment for coatings and other end-use applications. This April, Argex said it would build its first industrial plant in Valleyfield, Quebec. It is currently
scale TiO2
engaged in a feasibility study for the development of the facility, which will have a production capacity of 50,000 tonnes/year when – all being well – it enters production
Building in China
China remains at the centre of new plant building efforts, with up to a million tonnes of TiO2
declared to be in the
pipeline, writes Ed Barlow of TZMI. How much of this comes to fruition is debat- able, as appetites are currently sup- pressed: analysis of the local market by TZMI’s Shanghai team indicates that many of the Chinese producers have been losing money. When China’s very loose credit flows are tightened – as they almost inevitably will be – a number of ‘zombies’ may emerge. When TZMI reported on TiO2
markets
back in 2011, the key global producers were all non-Chinese. In fact, none of them – DuPont, Cristal, Huntsman, Tronox, Kronos, Sachtleben and Ishihara
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Sangyo Kaisha (ISK) – had a factory in China, which had become the largest consumer market of TiO2
pigment that
year. They still don’t today, but one recent change has been the inclusion of a Chinese company, Sichuan Lomon, in the ranks of the world leaders. Lomon’s 200,000 tonnes of capacity is located in China and the company is planning a further expansion later this year. Elsewhere, the general lack of
demand for titanium dioxide has caused a downturn in sales. Demand in Western Europe, which was previously driven by high construction volumes in Mediterra- nean markets, has receded to new lows. And, given the oversupply of real estate in the heady days before 2008, it does not
PIPE & PROFILE EXTRUSION | March/April 2014
look likely to return anytime soon. The US housing market is also recovering slowly – but ‘slow’ is the operative word. In the run-up to the FIFA World Cup
and Olympic Games, Brazil – which dominates demand in South America – is enjoying high levels of investment. At some point the region will need to invest in pigment production. The same is true for India, which is a bit depressed right now, but will see a young population migrate to the cities in huge numbers in coming decades. l Ed Barlow is country manager of TZMI Management Consulting (Shanghai). TZMI is currently working on its TiO2 Pigment Annual Review 2014. For details go to
http://bit.ly/TZMI2014.
www.pipeandprofile.com
in early 2015. There will also be an R&D centre on the site. The company has a pilot plant in Mississauga. Argex has recently published its first data sheets for
three grades aimed at various applications including plastics. Its RGX 220 grade is a rutile pigment with a brightness (L*) of 98.0-99.0 and a tone (b*) of 0.1-0.6.
Click on the links for more information: ❙
www.huntsman.com ❙
www.dupont.com ❙
www.tronox.com ❙
www.billionschem.com ❙
www.lomon.com ❙
www.dongjiagroup.com ❙
www.argex.ca ❙
www.ppg.com ❙
www.tzmi.com
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