PIGMENTS | BLACK AND WHITE
Right: TiO2 supply is
tightening as demand strengthens, according to industry watchers
brought on by the pandemic. “Much has been due to the increased demand from various industry segments Bolder is servicing,” says a company spokesperson. Bolder’s current facility at Maryville in Missouri,
US, went into commercial operation in early 2019. Strong product demand has led the company to expand the plant. By Q1 2022 — around a year later than originally planned due largely to COVID-19 — capacity will increase more than twofold. The company says its BolderBlack has been shown to develop mass-tone colour of an N300 type carbon black and also the undertone of N700 type in tinting. UV protection is on the same level as that from virgin CB.
Bolder Industries says “unique partnerships with
vCB [virgin carbon black] manufacturers and large carbon black end users have accelerated the building planning for Bolder Industries’ new greenfield manufacturing site to be announced in the next few months.” The company says it is looking at various locations around the world. In early October, the company said it had raised $80 million in equity and an additional $100 million in committed project-level funding “to accelerate its commercial scalability and advance its environmen- tal, social, and governance (ESG) impact globally.” Since late last year, Bolder has been cooperating
Below: New equipment being installed at the Bolder Industries rCB plant at Maryville in the US
with Continental Carbon Company (CCC) to supply blends of CCC’s carbon black grades with Bolder- Black in various ratios. Product is also available from Tokai Carbon. As each compound is pro- duced as a customised solution, no data sheets are currently available. In Sweden, the oil and carbon black that Scandinavian Enviro Systems recovers from end-of-life vehicle tyres at its plant at Åsensbruk have been accredited under the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) scheme. It is the first company in the world to receive ISCC certification for rCB. Fredrik Olofsson, Scandinavian Enviro Systems
Sales Manager, says the company’s main emphasis is on reuse of the rCB in tyres and other rubber goods. “Many [masterbatch] companies are in contact with us regarding plastic applications and multiple evaluations of our rCB into this industry have been carried out,” he says. “On an annual basis I would say we are in contact with 10-15 plastics producers. However, we have never entered any commercial contracts.” He says one reason for this is the ash content in rCB, which may be too high for plastics, as well as the particle size — it currently mills down to 30 microns.
White stays tight Producers and users of the TiO2
, meanwhile, have other issues to contend with. Users of TiO2 are used
to price hikes, which have been going on for several months and they may not be over yet. These have been triggered by the rising cost of tight TiO2
feedstocks, says consultant Reg Adams,
who points to civil unrest that caused a two-month shutdown of the world’s largest slag supplier, Rio Tinto in South Africa, and a shortfall in rutile supply from Iluka, Sierra Leone, with the threat of a two-year shutdown beginning in November. On top of this, costs of chlorine are rising for US chloride-route producers, while sulphate-route suppliers, especially in Asia, are having to pay more for sulphuric acid. Soaring ocean container freight rates on most shipping routes are proving to be the icing on the cake. Tight supply has arisen as demand has strength-
ened. “Packaging plastics demand actually in- creased because of pandemic lockdown-related factors in 2020, leading to more on-line retailing, for example, and it has remained strong so far in 2021,” said Adams in early October. “This has increased demand for TiO2
pigments.” 24 COMPOUNDING WORLD | November 2021
and most other plastics
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www.compoundingworld.com
IMAGE: BOLDER
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
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