China: Changzhou North American –organic pigments

The Changzhou complex (Jiangsuprovince) of Changzhou NorthAmerican Chemicals has recently beencertified to ISO 9001:2000 for qualitycontrol management by Lloyd’sRegister. The company produces azoand phthalocyanine lakes and solvent-based pigments here. It claims to bethe country’s largest manufacturer oforganic pigments, with a capacity of60,000 tonnes/y. It regularly exportsmore than 40,000 tonnes/y of organicpigments, mainly to markets in NorthAmerica, Europe, the Middle East andSoutheast Asia.

PPCJ, Polymers, Paint, Colour Journal, Dec 2009, 199(4543), 3

China: CMP/Tangshan Madison –calcined kaolin

In ‘Focus on Pigments’, Jul 2009, 3, wereported on the start-up of a newcalcined kaolin plant at Tangshan(Hebei province) by TangshanMadison,a subsidiary within the China MineralProcessing (CMP) group. At that time,the plant’s capacity was unknown. Ithas now been revealed that theTangshan plant can produce 60,000tonnes/y of calcined kaolin and it hasbeen designed so as to facilitatedoubling capacity to 120,000 tonnes/y,as warranted by market demand. Theplant has been certified to ISO9001:2008 standard by the UK office ofSté Générale de Surveillance (SGS).

CMP sells its calcined kaolin inseveral different grades under theSnowhite brandname. All theseproducts have an ISO brightness ofmore than 92. Snowhite 86, one of themost popular grades, is refined byscreening so that 86% of the particlesare less than 2 microns; the ISObrightness is 93.5 and the specificgravity is 2.7. Other grades include:Snowhite 65, Snowhite 70, Snowhite80 and Snowhite 90. The Snowhitepigments are easily dispersible inwater-based paint, possess excellentscrub-resistance and good wet-filmopacity. CMP emphasises the cost-effective selling features of reducingthe average specific gravity of thefinal paint product and saving on TiO2pigment usage.

APCJ, Asia Pacific Coatings Journal, Dec 2009, 22 (6(China country focus supplement)), 5

China: Guangdong Jiawei Chemicals –nanoparticulate calcium carbonate

Guangdong Jiawei ChemicalsIndustrial Co Ltd has begunconstruction of its third and largestnanoparticulate calcium carbonateplant. On 29 November 2009, thefoundation stone was laid at the plantsite in Liuzhou-Liucheng (Guangxiprovince). Jiawei has budgeted Rmb350 M for this project. When the300,000 tonnes/y plant is fullyoperational, it will generate Rmb 600M in annual sales revenue.

Jiawei already has a 90,000tonnes/y nanoparticulate calciumcarbonate plant at Enping City(Guangdong province) and a 210,000tonnes/y plant at Luoding (also inGuangdong province). The companyclaims to be the world’s largestsupplier of nanoparticulate calciumcarbonate, selling to customers in thepaper, plastics, rubber and ink sectors.

China Chemical Reporter, 16 Dec 2009, 20 (35), 16

Germany & US: Allessa & Flint – AlkaliBlue pigments

Allessa Chemie (formerly CasellaChemie, part of the Hoechst group)has announced that it will ceasemanufacturing Reflex Blue pigments,effective 1 April 2010. The company isclosing down its Offenbach plant, nearFrankfurt. Reflex Blue pigments arebased on vegetable oils and they aremainly used as fining agents for blackinks. Allessa is recommending that itscustomers switch to using Alkali Bluepigments, produced by Flint GroupPigments at Huntington, WV in theUnited States.

Press Release from: Flint Group, 26b Boulevard Royal,L-2449 Luxembourg. Website:http://www.flintgrp.com (5 Feb 2010)

Germany: Wacker – fumed silica

Wacker Chemie (headquartered inMunich) has announced plans tostreamline its fumed silica operations.The plant at Kempten/Allgäu (130 kmsouthwest of Munich) will be closed in2011, with the loss of about 50 jobs.The closure will result in an assetsimpairment charge of €3.5 M andprovision for employee severance andplant closure costs of €5.5 M, all ofwhich will be booked to the company’sfinancial results for full-year 2009.

Production at Kempten willeffectively be transferred to Wacker’sexisting plants at Burghausen (115 kmeast of Munich) and Nünchritz (490km north of Munich). The Nünchritzplant is going to be expanded.

Wacker is world’s third-largestsupplier of fumed silica (which it refersto as “pyrogenic silica”). Wackermarkets its fumed silica under thebrandname HDK for use as afunctional filler in silicone elastomersand as a viscosity modifying agent inpaints, printing inks, adhesives,unsaturated polyester resins andplastisols. It also serves as arheological additive in cosmetics,pharmaceuticals and food products.

Press Release from: Wacker Chemie AG, Hanns SeidelPlatz 4, D-81737, Munich, Germany. Website:http://www.wacker.com (14 Jan 2010)

India: Cambay Chem – dyes

Cambay Chem Ltd plans to increase itsdyes production capacity at Cambay inthe Anand district of Gujarat provinceby nearly 40,000 tonnes/y. This willentail investment of Rup 395 M, ofwhich Rup 25 M will be specificallydedicated to pollution controlmeasures. The proposed expansionwill create about 400 jobs for skilledand unskilled labourers and office staff.

Chemical Weekly, 8 Dec 2009, 55 (17), 136

India: Phillips – carbon black

Phillips Carbon Black declared its new90,000 tonnes/y carbon black plant atMundra (Gujarat province) to be fullyon-stream, with effect from 17October 2009.

Chemical Weekly, 27 Oct 2009, 55 (11), 144

US: Addcomp – plastics masterbatch

Addcomp Holland BV recently openeda new facility at Rochester Hills, MI,with a floor area of 1500 sq metres.The facility houses product storage,technical support offices and amaterials analysis laboratory tosupport the provision of custom-formulated plastics masterbatches.

At its Nijverdal plant in theNetherlands, Addcomp makes one-pack additive systems, includingcompacted and masterbatchproducts, for use in polyolefin,polystyrene, polyester and polyamide

6 MARCH 2010

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