rockwood acquires southern color
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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
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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
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