rockwood acquires southern color

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plant was envisaged as having an initial capacity of merely 10,000 tonnes/y. The location was envisaged as Ukhta. Kommersant, 12 Feb 2003, (24), 16 (in Russian) South Africa: Ticor & Kumba resources – TiO 2 feedstock Ticor South Africa Pty Ltd will join the ranks of the world’s titania slag producers at the end of March thanks to the commissioning of the first furnace of its ilmenite smelter at Empangeni in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The furnace will be capable of producing 125,000 tonnes/y of TiO 2 slag and 70,000 tonnes/y of pig iron. A second similar sized furnace should be ready for operation in 1Q 2004. Of the total 250,000 tonnes/y TiO 2 slag capacity, 80% will be available as feedstock suitable for chloride-route TiO 2 plants, the other 20% being fine-grained material more suitable for sulfate- route TiO 2 plants. Ticor South Africa is currently owned 60:40 by Ticor Ltd (of Melbourne) and 40% by Kumba Resources (of Pretoria), but the ownership split will shift to 80:20 once the second furnace is commissioned. Meanwhile, Kumba Resources has 50.12% majority control of Ticor Ltd. Industrial Minerals, Mar 2003, (426), 16 US: CalciTech – PCC The technology developed by CalciTech for converting lime wastes from acetylene production into high- quality calcium carbonate is already being employed for a 40,000 tonnes/y project at Leuna, near Schopkau in eastern Germany. (See also ‘Focus on Pigments’, Jan 2003, 5). A second project on a similar scale is likely to result from negotiations now under way between CalciTech and Carbide Industries LLC, with the plant to be located at Louisville, KY. The calcium carbonate product from both CalciTech projects will be sold mainly to the paper industry as two grades – Calci LS and Calci SG. The latter is intended for paper coating applications, suitable for printing and writing papers or folding boxboards. Chimie Hebdo, 10 Mar 2003, (205), 6 (in French) COMPANIES Heubach sells Dominion rights to use Krolor brandname in Europe Dominion Colour Corp (of Canada) has bought from Heubach the rights to use the brandname and trademark Krolor in Europe. Krolor is already used by Dominion Colour in other parts of the world for its high- performance silica-encapsulated chrome yellow and molybdenum orange pigments. However, in Europe, Heubach had prior claim to the trademark Krolor. Heubach also produces silica-encapsulated chrome yellow and molybdenum orange pigments, but it sells these pigments under the brandname Heucotron T in markets outside Europe. Paint and Resin Times, Jan-Feb 2003, (1), 3 Imerys restructures Imerys has carried out a major restructuring exercise, creating four groups – Speciality Minerals, Pigments for Paper, Building Materials and Refractories & Abrasives. The first two groups will each contribute roughly 28% of Imerys’ total sales revenue, while the latter two groups will each contribute roughly 22% of total sales revenue. The Pigments for Paper group has a total global workforce of 3200 employees, producing kaolin and calcium carbonate (both ground and precipitated) at 60 production facilities spread across 17 different countries. This group consists of three divisions – Paper Pacific, Paper Europe and Paper America. European Paint and Resin News, Mar 2003, 41 (3), 2 Kronos achieved record TiO 2 sales, but profits crashed in 2002 Kronos, the world’s fifth largest TiO 2 pigment producer, declared record sales and production for calendar year 2002 – 455,000 tonnes sales and 442,000 tonnes production. The company’s pigment inventories had reached 85,000 tonnes at the end of 2001, representing about 11 weeks’ sales. By turning down plant operating rates, Kronos managed to reduce pigment inventories to 72,000 tonnes at the end of 2002, representing about 8 weeks’ sales. TiO 2 pigment prices were again weak during 2002 and despite achieving record pigment sales, profits fell sharply. NL Industries, parent company for the Kronos group, reported net income at only $36.8 M for full-year 2002, compared against $121.8 M for full-year 2001 and $147.5 M for full-year 2000. Press releases from: NL Industries Inc, 16825 Northchase Drive, Suite 1200, Houston, TX 77060- 2544, USA (31 Jan 2003 & 13 Feb 2003) Change of name for Merck’s US subsidiary and effect pigments EM Industries, the US-based subsidiary of Merck (of Darmstadt, Germany), has changed its name to EMD Chemicals, with effect from the beginning of 2003. EMD Chemicals (still based in Hawthorne, NY) combines the US activities of Analytics & Reagents (formerly EM Science) with those of Life Science Products (formerly Health & Human Nutrition), Pigments and Cosmetics. The company’s CN Biosciences unit (based in San Diego, CA) has been renamed EMD Biosciences and it will continue to handle Merck’s products under the Oncogene, Novagen, Novabiochem and Calbiochem brandnames. Also affected by the name change are EMD Pharmaceuticals (of Durham, NC)and the EMD Lexigen Research Centre (of Boston, MA). Meanwhile, Merck’s range of mica- based effect pigments, formerly sold under the brandname Afflair, will now be marketed as Iriodin Effect pigments. Paint & Coatings Industry (PCI), Jan 2003, 2003 (1), 23 & Manufacturing Chemist, Feb 2003, 74 (2), 8 Rockwood acquires Southern Color Rockwood Pigments, the inorganic pigments division of Rockwood Specialties (of Princeton, NJ) has acquired Southern Color (of Cartersville, GA). Southern Color manufactures pigments, mortar products and masonry colorants for sale to the construction industry. In a separate move, Davis Colors (a division within the Rockwood Specialties group) has appointed the Construction Products Division of W.R.Grace to distribute its liquid 6 MARCH 2003 FOCUS ON PIGMENTS

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Page 1: Rockwood acquires Southern Color

plant was envisaged as having aninitial capacity of merely 10,000tonnes/y. The location was envisagedas Ukhta.

Kommersant, 12 Feb 2003, (24), 16 (in Russian)

South Africa: Ticor & Kumba resources– TiO2 feedstock

Ticor South Africa Pty Ltd will join theranks of the world’s titania slagproducers at the end of March thanksto the commissioning of the firstfurnace of its ilmenite smelter atEmpangeni in the province ofKwaZulu-Natal. The furnace will becapable of producing 125,000tonnes/y of TiO2 slag and 70,000tonnes/y of pig iron. A second similarsized furnace should be ready foroperation in 1Q 2004. Of the total250,000 tonnes/y TiO2 slag capacity,80% will be available as feedstocksuitable for chloride-route TiO2 plants,the other 20% being fine-grainedmaterial more suitable for sulfate-route TiO2 plants.

Ticor South Africa is currentlyowned 60:40 by Ticor Ltd (ofMelbourne) and 40% by KumbaResources (of Pretoria), but theownership split will shift to 80:20 oncethe second furnace is commissioned.Meanwhile, Kumba Resources has50.12% majority control of Ticor Ltd.

Industrial Minerals, Mar 2003, (426), 16

US: CalciTech – PCC

The technology developed byCalciTech for converting lime wastesfrom acetylene production into high-quality calcium carbonate is alreadybeing employed for a 40,000 tonnes/yproject at Leuna, near Schopkau ineastern Germany. (See also ‘Focuson Pigments’, Jan 2003, 5). A secondproject on a similar scale is likely toresult from negotiations now underway between CalciTech and CarbideIndustries LLC, with the plant to belocated at Louisville, KY. The calciumcarbonate product from bothCalciTech projects will be sold mainlyto the paper industry as two grades –Calci LS and Calci SG. The latter isintended for paper coatingapplications, suitable for printing andwriting papers or folding boxboards.

Chimie Hebdo, 10 Mar 2003, (205), 6 (in French)

COMPANIESHeubach sells Dominion rights to useKrolor brandname in Europe

Dominion Colour Corp (of Canada)has bought from Heubach the rightsto use the brandname and trademarkKrolor in Europe. Krolor is alreadyused by Dominion Colour in otherparts of the world for its high-performance silica-encapsulatedchrome yellow and molybdenumorange pigments. However, inEurope, Heubach had prior claim tothe trademark Krolor. Heubach alsoproduces silica-encapsulated chromeyellow and molybdenum orangepigments, but it sells these pigmentsunder the brandname Heucotron T inmarkets outside Europe.

Paint and Resin Times, Jan-Feb 2003, (1), 3

Imerys restructures

Imerys has carried out a majorrestructuring exercise, creating fourgroups – Speciality Minerals,Pigments for Paper, Building Materialsand Refractories & Abrasives. Thefirst two groups will each contributeroughly 28% of Imerys’ total salesrevenue, while the latter two groupswill each contribute roughly 22% oftotal sales revenue. The Pigments forPaper group has a total globalworkforce of 3200 employees,producing kaolin and calciumcarbonate (both ground andprecipitated) at 60 production facilitiesspread across 17 different countries.This group consists of three divisions– Paper Pacific, Paper Europe andPaper America.

European Paint and Resin News, Mar 2003, 41 (3), 2

Kronos achieved record TiO2 sales, butprofits crashed in 2002

Kronos, the world’s fifth largest TiO2pigment producer, declared recordsales and production for calendaryear 2002 – 455,000 tonnes salesand 442,000 tonnes production. Thecompany’s pigment inventories hadreached 85,000 tonnes at the end of2001, representing about 11 weeks’sales. By turning down plant operatingrates, Kronos managed to reducepigment inventories to 72,000 tonnes

at the end of 2002, representing about8 weeks’ sales.

TiO2 pigment prices were againweak during 2002 and despiteachieving record pigment sales,profits fell sharply. NL Industries,parent company for the Kronos group,reported net income at only $36.8 Mfor full-year 2002, compared against$121.8 M for full-year 2001 and$147.5 M for full-year 2000.

Press releases from: NL Industries Inc, 16825Northchase Drive, Suite 1200, Houston, TX 77060-2544, USA (31 Jan 2003 & 13 Feb 2003)

Change of name for Merck’s USsubsidiary and effect pigments

EM Industries, the US-basedsubsidiary of Merck (of Darmstadt,Germany), has changed its name toEMD Chemicals, with effect from thebeginning of 2003. EMD Chemicals(still based in Hawthorne, NY)combines the US activities ofAnalytics & Reagents (formerly EMScience) with those of Life ScienceProducts (formerly Health & HumanNutrition), Pigments and Cosmetics.The company’s CN Biosciences unit(based in San Diego, CA) has beenrenamed EMD Biosciences and it willcontinue to handle Merck’s productsunder the Oncogene, Novagen,Novabiochem and Calbiochembrandnames. Also affected by thename change are EMDPharmaceuticals (of Durham, NC)andthe EMD Lexigen Research Centre (ofBoston, MA).

Meanwhile, Merck’s range of mica-based effect pigments, formerly soldunder the brandname Afflair, will nowbe marketed as Iriodin Effect pigments.

Paint & Coatings Industry (PCI), Jan 2003, 2003 (1),23 & Manufacturing Chemist, Feb 2003, 74 (2), 8

Rockwood acquires Southern Color

Rockwood Pigments, the inorganicpigments division of RockwoodSpecialties (of Princeton, NJ) hasacquired Southern Color (ofCartersville, GA). Southern Colormanufactures pigments, mortarproducts and masonry colorants forsale to the construction industry.

In a separate move, Davis Colors(a division within the RockwoodSpecialties group) has appointed theConstruction Products Division ofW.R.Grace to distribute its liquid

6 MARCH 2003

F O C U S O N P I G M E N T S

Page 2: Rockwood acquires Southern Color

colorants and colour dispensingsystems to North Americanmanufacturers of ready-mix and pre-cast cement.

Chemical Market Reporter, 17 Feb 2003 (Website:http://www.chemicalmarketreporter.com) & ChemicalWeek, 19 Feb 2003, 165 (7), 53

Sun acquires Bayer’s US organicpigments & sells its own perylenebusiness to Ciba

Sun Chemical has acquired Bayer’shigh-performance organic pigmentbusiness based in the US. Thetransaction was completed on 31January 2003. Central to the dealwere the pigment manufacturingfacilities at Bayer’s Bushy Parkcomplex, 25 miles northeast ofCharleston, SC, including plants formaking: Indofast carbazole violet,Perrindo perylene, Quindoquinacridone and Palomarphthalocyanine pigments. Thesepigments are used in colouringautomotive, industrial andarchitectural paints, as well as in theplastics and synthetic textiles sectors.Associated waste water treatmentfacilities at Bushy Park were alsoincluded in the transaction. Inaddition, 140 Bayer employees weretransferred to Sun Chemical’sPerformance Pigments Group.

At Bushy Park, Bayer will continueto make and market various specialitycolorants for the textile and paperindustries, as well as certain organicintermediates and Dorlastan spandexfibres (which are used in thesportswear and textile industries). Atother manufacturing sites, notablyLerma (Mexico) and Leverkusen(Germany) Bayer will continue toproduce other pigments andcolorants, including Macrolex dyes,Pigment Yellow 150 and Bayferroxiron oxide pigments.

Sun Chemical becomes the third“outside company” to own andoperate facilities on Bayer’s BushyPark chemical complex: Haarmann &Reimer took over the manufacture ofsynthetic menthol and aromatic estersfor perfumes and cosmeticsapplications at the site, while Agfaruns facilities for making photographicfilm.

To comply with the conditions laiddown by the US anti-trust authoritywhen approving the deal, Sun

Chemical was obliged to divest itsown perylene pigments business. Thisbusiness included certain “tollmanufacturing arrangements” wherebyForth Technologies and LobeloProducts produced perylene pigmentsfor resale by Sun Chemical. Thesearrangements and Sun’s perylenepigments inventory have beentransferred to Ciba SpecialtyChemicals, effective 7 February 2003.Ciba has confirmed that it will continueto produce perylene pigments usingthe same processes, production sitesand raw materials as Sun Chemical.Ciba will market its perylene pigmentsunder the Irgazin brandname, withparticular emphasis on the automotivepaints market. Irgazin perylenepigments should fit in well with Ciba’sexisting quinacridone, DPP andanthraquinone pigments. Indeed, Cibahas become the only supplier able tooffer all four transparent red pigments.

Press releases from: Bayer Corp, Pittsburgh, PA15205-9741, USA. Website: http://www.bayerus.com(6 Feb 2003) & Sun Chemical Corp, Fort Lee, NJ, USA.Website: http://www.sunchemical.com (6 Feb 2003) &Ciba Specialty Chemicals, Basel, Switzerland. Website:http://www.cibasc.com (11 Feb 2003) & EuropeanChemical News, 10 Feb 2003, 78 (2039), 6

Loss-making Synthesia embarks onrestructuring programme

Synthesia, a subsidiary of Aliachem(of Pardubice, Czech Republic)reported a loss of CEK 200 M onsales of CEK 4.9 bn in full-year 2001and it is likely to make a loss of CEK100 M on CEK 4 bn in full-year 2002.A major restructuring programme isunderway, entailing a reduction in theworkforce from 3000 to 2900. Infuture, Synthesia will concentrate onthree key areas: organic chemicals,nitrocellulose products and colorants(both pigments and dyes).

Technicky Tydenik, 7 Jan 2003, 51 (1), 7 (in Czech)

Vanavil declares better profits,despite lower phthalo blue prices

Vanavil Dyes & Chemicals Ltd, anIndian affiliate of the Clariant group,reported net profit at Rup 16.5 M onsales of Rup 382.7 M for the ninemonths to end-December 2002. Thatcompares against Rup 13.7 M on Rup309 M for the equivalent period of2001. The improvement in profitabilityhas been achieved by cost-cuttingmeasures, more than offsetting the

impact of lower realised selling pricesfor phthalo blue. Vanavil operates a600 tonnes/y phthalo blue plant andan 800 tonnes/y chloranil plant atCuddalore (Tamil Nadu).

Business Line, 18 Jan 2003, 10 (17), 2

TECHNOLOGYBASF’s optical brightener

BASF’s new Ultraphor TC liquidrepresents a dramatic improvement inefficiency for optical brighteners. Theproduct was developed specially foruse with polyester/cellulosic blends: itreduces the traditional brighteningprocess time by 45% and can be usedat temperatures as low as 95°C. Byallowing simultaneous bleaching andbrightening, it substantially reducesenergy and water consumption. Theproduct contains an optimisedshading dye combination, thusdispensing with the need for thetedious dosing out of measuredquantities of various dyes.

Press release from: BASF, Ludwigshafen, Germany.Website: http://www.basf.de (8 Jan 2003)

Casio’s fluorescent ink for cheques

Casio Computer Co has developed afluorescent security ink, incorporatinga special fluorescent pigment, whichcan be used to print symbols oncheques, so that they fluoresce underultraviolet light, enabling authenticationto take place. The new system canproduce watermarks at one-tenth thecost of existing technology.

Nikkei Net, 16 Dec 2002 (Website:http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp)

Silberline’s glitter-effect masterbatch

Silberline has launched Silver SparkleSilver Premier – a metallicmasterbatch in a granular format,imparting a distinctive glitter effect atlow addition levels. The product has atypical aluminium pigment content of70%, with four grades of lenticularaluminium pigments (particle sizesranging from 16 to 46 microns). Atrecommended addition levels of 0.2-1.0%, the product is easy to meterout, offers excellent dispersion andshear stability.

Modern Plastics International, Dec 2002, 32 (12), 81

MARCH 2003 7

F O C U S O N P I G M E N T S