International to claim carbon footprintcredits. The carbon black recoveredwill be purchased by TitanInternational for use in making newtyres. The oil recovered will probablybe converted into kerosene. With theGreen Carbon process, sufficient fuelgas is generated to meet 88% of theprocess energy requirements.

Titan International is one of NorthAmerica’s major suppliers of off-roadtyres, with a history stretching backmore than 100 years. The companyhas grown significantly in recent yearsas a result of purchasing non-coreassets from Goodyear, ContinentalRubber and Voltyre. Mr MauriceTaylor (Chairman & CEO of TitanInternational) is the brother of Mr FredTaylor (President of Green CarbonInc). Mr Maurice Taylor commented:“We have been working together forthree years to prove this process. It isgratifying to move forward as we feelthis system is extremely eco-friendly.”

The Fort McMurray plant should beready for operation by mid-2015.Once it is up and runningsuccessfully, Titan International plans to build a second plant at alocation somewhere west ofEdmonton.

Titan International Inc, 2701 Spruce Street, Quincy, IL6230, USA, tel: +1-(217) 228 6011, website:http://www.titan-intl.com (3 Jun 2014) © TitanInternational 2014

Egypt: Phillips – carbon black

Phillips Carbon Black (part of the RPSanjiv Goenka conglomerate,headquartered in Kolkata/Calcutta)plans to invest $170 M in theconstruction of a new 140,000tonnes/y carbon black plant at Bourj-al-Arab (65 km southwest ofAlexandria). The plant is due to comeon-stream in 2016.

This will be Egypt’s second carbon black plant. The first plant –located at El Ameriya (30 kmsouthwest of Alexandria) – came on-stream during the mid-1990s and itnow has a capacity of 285,000tonnes/y. This plant is owned by theAditya Birla group (headquartered inMumbai).

Original Source: Plastics and Rubber Asia, Aug 2014,29 (207 (Rubber Journal Asia)), 1 (Website:http://www.plasticsandrubberasia.com) © Plastics &Rubber Asia Ltd 2014

Germany & Brazil: Feddersen/Akro-Plastic – plastic compounds

Two years ago, Akro-Plastic (part ofthe KD Feddersen group,headquartered in Hamburg) opened anew plastic compounds plant atNiederzissen (45 km south of Bonn).Initial capacity was 60,000 tonnes/yand work is currently underway toraise this to 80,000 tonnes/y by theend of 2014 and to 110,000 tonnes/yby the end of 2019.

Akro-Plastic opened its first plasticcompounds plant in China – atSuzhou – in 2004. Six years later, thecompany opened a second Chineseplant, at Wujiang (100 km west ofShanghai). The company is currentlybuilding a new plastic compoundsplant at Sao Paulo (Brazil) and thisplant is expected to come on-streamin 1Q 2015.

Original Source: Compounding World, Jul 2014, 70(Website: http://www.amiplastics.com/mags) © Applied Market Information Ltd 2014

India: Deepak Nitrite – opticalbrighteners

Deepak Nitrite declared the officialstart-up of full-scale production at itsnew optical brighteners plant on 20May 2014. The plant was built on agreenfields site at Dahej (Gujaratprovince, 110 km southwest ofVadodara). It has a nameplatecapacity of 91,000 tonnes/y. DeepakNitrite claims to be the only fullyvertically integrated manufacturer ofoptical brighteners in the world,producing all the key products in thevalue-chain: toluene; para-nitrotoluene (PNT); and 4,4-diaminostilbene 2,2 disulfonic acid(DASDA); as well as a wide portfolioof optical brighteners suitable for thepaper, detergent and textile end-usesectors. In fact, the Dahej plant isprobably the largest opticalbrighteners plant in the world.

During the quarter to end-June2014, Deepak Nitrite reported salesrevenues from its optical brightenersbusiness as Rup 590 M (equivalent to$9.7 M), compared against Rup 300M (equivalent to $4.9 M) for thequarter to end-June 2013.

Original Source: Deepak Nitrite Ltd, Aaditya-I, NationalHighway No 8, Chhani Road, 390024 Vadodara, India,tel: +91 (265) 276 5200, website:http://www.deepaknitrite.com (7 Aug 2014) © DeepakNitrite Ltd 2014

India: Jay Chemical & SaraswatiPigments – phthalocyanine blue

Jay Chemical Industries (ofAhmedabad, Gujarat) has paid$203,000 for a licence to usetechnology patented by SaraswatiPigments (of Vadodara, Gujarat) toimprove the economics of its phthaloblue manufacturing operations.Saraswati’s technology was describedin the Indian patent 2755/MUM/2012,dated 24 September 2012 and thecompany recently applied for patentprotection with the World IntellectualProperty Organisation (WIPO),reference 2014/045249-A1.

Both Jay Chemical and Saraswatiare significant manufacturers ofphthalo blue, employing theconventional Wyler process, whichentails heating phthalic anhydride (ora derivative) with a copper compoundand urea within an inert solvent at150-250°C. The solvent (typically di-or tri-chlorobenzene, nitro- ornitroalkyl-benzene or sulfolane) isremoved by filtration or vacuumdistillation and the crude copperphthalocyanine is then extracted byboiling with a dilute mineral acid. Thereaction time is normally 12-16 hours.To maximise yields, a stoichiometricexcess of urea is used, often 2-4moles of urea per mole of phthalicanhydride. In a commercial-scaleplant, there is some decomposition ofthe urea and urea compounds,generating waste gases that areabsorbed in water for disposal or for further treatment to produceammonia solution or an ammoniumsalt (sulfate, phosphate or carbonate).Saraswati’s patented process involvessaturating the “waste ammoniasolution” to achieve a 10-35%concentration, then treating thesaturated solution with phthalicanhydride in the presence of suitable catalysts (phthalimide, 1,3-diiminoisoindoline ordihydroindazolone and dilute nitricacid) in suitable solvents (chlorinatedtoluenes, linear alkyl benzene,nitrotoluene). The phthalocyanineintermediates are then converted intometal phthalocyanines by reactingthem with a measured (just sufficient)quantity of urea plus a metal salt.

Employing this add-on processprovides higher overall product yields,provides raw material savings andreduces the load of ammoniacal

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