polyesters and high-performancealloys. Total capacity at the plant willbe raised by 2500 tonnes/y by 2Q2010. The last expansion at San LuisPotosi raised capacity here by 1000tonnes/y during 2003. (See ‘Focus onPigments’, Mar 2003, 5).

In Asia, Schulman opened an18,000 tonnes/y plastic compoundsplant in Guangdong province (China)in 2004. It is now studying feasiblesites in western India for theestablishment of a 5500 tonnes/yplastics masterbatch plant that couldbe up and running by October 2010.The Indian plant will be mainly gearedto serving customers in thepackaging, household appliance andconsumer product sectors.

Chimie Pharma Hebdo, 28 Sep 2009, (480), 7 (inFrench) & Kunststof en Rubber, Sep 2009, 62 (9), 66(in Dutch) & Press releases from: Schulman Inc, 3550West Market Street, Akron, OH 44333, USA. Website:http://www.aschulman.com (16 & 26 Oct 2009)

Germany: Grafe – masterbatch

Grafe Advanced Polymers GmbHplans to spend €9 M over the nextthree years to expand its capacity forproducing colour and additivemasterbatches at its Blankenhainplant in Thüringen. The company wasfounded in 1991 by members of thesame family that founded Constab,another German masterbatchsupplier. Grafe now employs 230people, supplies more than 1000customers and generates annualsales revenues in excess of €30 M.

Chemical Fibers International, Oct 2009, 59 (Man-Made Fiber Year Book 2009), 15

India: Meghmani – optical brighteners,organic dyes & pigments

The Meghmani group (headquarteredin Ahmedabad, Gujarat province) hasoutlined a Rup 1 bn ($21.3 M)programme to establish a newspeciality chemicals complex at anunidentified location. The operatingcompany will be Meghmani SpecialityChemicals Ltd and the complex willinclude facilities for making organicdyes and optical brighteners. About12% of the overall investment hasbeen specifically allocated to pollutioncontrol facilities.

The Meghmani group already has12 manufacturing sites, operated by

various wholly- or partly-ownedsubsidiaries, including AlpanilIndustries (the largest Indian supplierof carbazole violet), MatangiIndustries (producing intermediatesfor pigments, dyes andagrochemicals) and Ashish Chemicals(producing dyes such as ReactiveBlue 21 and Direct Blue 199).

Meghmani Dyes & Intermediatessupplies optical brighteners from itsAhmedabad plant. These productsare the conventional sulfonatedtriazine-stilbenes. Meghmani’s rangeincludes: disulfonics (used at acidicpH for nylon, wool, silk and otherhydrophobic fibres); tetrasulfonics(used at neutral or slightly alkaline pHfor standard office paper, rayon,Lyocell and other cellulosic fibres);and hexasulfonics (for photogravurepapers).

Meghmani Organics owns twopigment manufacturing sites, one atVatva (near Ahmedabad) and one atPanoli (near Ankleshwar, about 200km south of Ahmedabad). At Vatva,the company makes 1800 tonnes/y ofPigment Green-7 and 600 tonnes/y ofPigment Green-36. It is planning toestablish a high performance organicpigments facility here in the nearfuture. At Panoli, the company makes:10,800 tonnes/y of crude phthalo-cyanine blue; 3600 tonnes/y ofPigment Blue-15:2-beta and 600tonnes/y of Pigment Blue-15:2-alpha.

For the first six months of 2009, theMeghmani group declared a post-taxprofit of Rup 265 M on sales of Rup3.86 bn. That compares against Rup266 M on sales of Rup 4.56 bn for 1H2008. Sales of pigments dropped fromRup 1.52 bn to Rup 1.02 bn, mainlybecause export sales fell from Rup1.24 bn to Rup 730 M. Meanwhile,Meghmani’s sales of pigments toIndian customers increased slightly,from Rup 281 M in 1H 2008 to Rup291 M in 1H 2009. The group’s salesof pesticides and agrochemicals alsodeclined, but much less steeply, fromRup 2.25 bn to Rup 2.15 bn. Lookingahead, Meghmani sees no real signs ofrecovery in pigments demand in itsmajor American and Europeanmarkets, which will exacerbatecontinuing downward pressure onorganic pigment prices during 1H 2010.

Chemical Engineering World, Jul 2009, 44 (7), 32 &Press release from: Meghmani Group, Shree NivasSociety Street, Paldi, Ahmedabad 380007, Gujarat,India. Website: http://www.meghmani.com

UK: RockTron – cenospheres frompower station fly-ash

RockTron is successfully operating acommercial-scale plant at Warrington(about 30 km equidistant fromLiverpool and Manchester),employing its own technology forconverting fly-ash derived from coal-fired power stations into marketableproducts, including cenospheres asfunctional fillers. The fly-ashpredominantly consists ofaluminosilicates and oxides ofsilicon, aluminium and iron. Typically,for every tonne of coal used in powerstations around the world, about 150kilos of fly-ash is created. Last year,the world generated about 600 Mtonnes of fly-ash at coal-fired powerstations, with China accounting for50% of that total. Substantialquantities of fly-ash are currently“stockpiled” at sites near the powerstations.

RockTron was founded in 2000and it is headquartered in Bristol. Thecompany’s largest shareholder isScottish & Southern Energy (SSE),which is the UK’s second largestelectric power generator. RockTron’snew plant on Widnes Road(Warrington) is located on land ownedby SSE and adjacent to SSE’sFiddlers Ferry power station. Theplant is designed to process up to800,000 tonnes/y of fly-ash, producinga similar quantity of marketableproducts. The company lists five suchproducts.

The CenTron range comprises arange of clean, classified solid orhollow aluminosilicate microspheres.The MagTron product essentiallyconsists of magnetite for use as afunctional filler with magneticproperties. When added to silica/silane blends, the CenTroncenospheres can improve tyre treadproperties. When added to ethylenepropylene diene monomer (EPDM)rubbers, they reduce material densityand costs. Alpha and Delta CementConstituent products are pozzolanicproducts, containing low residualcarbon. The Alpha product is suitablefor use in cement mixtures. The Deltaproduct is suitable for use in concreteroofing tiles, blocks and pre-castconcrete structures. The fifthmarketable product is fuel-gradecarbon, with a high ratio of net heat-to-sulfur.

6 DECEMBER 2009

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