PIGMENTS | TITANIUM DIOXIDE
Right: Infrared reflective TiO2 pigments are among the latest develop- ments at Venator
yr of material with “outstanding dispersion and processing, high hiding power and lacing resist- ance.” He says that conventional plants need to have a capacity of at least 35,000 tonnes/yr to make them economically feasible, involving (for a sulphate plant) a minimum investment of $135 million. With raw TiO2
than finished TiO2
available at prices 15-25% lower for plastics, Gonchar says the
total investment and running costs of the conver- sion plant – and a maximum ROI period of two years – could enable Pigmentiox RP-113 to sell at a similar price to grades with similar properties produced on much larger plants. RD Titan Group Innovative TiO2
currently has an
agreement with a company for building a produc- tion line in Poland. “I hope that in the next two or three years we will be able to do transfer of this technology for [more] clients,” says Gonchar.
Chinese moves The fourth largest TiO2
producer in the world is
now Chinese. This follows the merger last year of Henan Billions and Lomon into Lomon Billions, which is headquartered in Jiaozuo in China’s Henan Province. The merged entity is the only fully integrated producer in China operating both chloride and sulphate processes. “In 2016, the combined TiO2
pigment sales
Below: The Lomon Billions technology centre at its global headquarters in Jiaozuo, China
volume of Henan Billions and Lomon was 600,000 tonnes, with 291,000 tones destined for export. Capacity rose to more than 700,000 tonnes this year. The company says it plans to increase capacity further to 1,300,000 tonnes through debottlenecking of its sulphate facilities and significant investment in new chloride capacity,” Lomon Billions Marketing Director Julie Reid told Compounding World. Reid joined the company as Marketing Manager in 2014 and was responsible for the transfer that year of the TR52 pigment business from Huntsman, where she previously worked. The sale of the TR52 business (which is used only in inks) followed
Huntsman’s acquisition of the Sachtleben TiO2 business from Rockwood Holdings. Huntsman said
at the time that it would restructure its pigments and additives business (which included TiO2
) to
improve competitiveness, and this resulted in the establishment of Venator Materials Corp which was spun off in an IPO in August this year in the lead-up to the merger (not finalised at the time of writing) of Huntsman with Clariant. “Today, around 39% of all TiO2
pigment capacity
worldwide is now in China. This shift has been caused by general consolidation in the industry
world-wide, as well as consolidation of TiO2 pigment manufacturers in China including the merger that formed Lomon Billions in 2016. There are around 30 other Chinese TiO2
pigment
producers, most with less than 50,000 tonnes capacity,” Reid says. “Asian growth rates for TiO2
pigments for the
coloration of plastics are the strongest in the world, estimated to be around 7% pa, and these pigments must cover the associated range of quality de-
manded. In China, for example, where TiO2 pigment loadings in white masterbatches range from 30-80%, the rising degree of technical sophistication of plastics coloration is inexorable: there is a trend to use masterbatches in preference
26
COMPOUNDING WORLD | October 2017
www.compoundingworld.com
PHOTO: LOMON BILLIONS
PHOTO: VENATOR
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