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Finland: Huber – Spherilex precipitated silica & silicates
FOCUS detergents, the key criteria for optical brightness are: fluorescent performance (power and longevity), lightfastness, heat resistance and chemical stability. In the value chain, DAS (full chemical name: 4,4'-diamino-2,2'-stilbene sulfonic acid) is the most important raw material. Major Indian suppliers of DAS include: Emco Chemicals (of Mumbai) and RoopDhara (of Ahmedabad, Gujarat). Tianjin Yakete International (headquartered in Tianjin-Nankai) is the most prominent Chinese supplier of DAS. M&M's report runs to 145 pages, divided into 12 chapters. The first two chapters outline the scope of the study and the methodology. Chapter 3 provides an executive summary. Chapter 4 discusses premium insights gathered from respondents during the interview phase of the study. Chapter 5 provides a market overview. Chapter 6 gives a value-chain analysis, discussing relative bargaining power as between buyers and suppliers, competitive rivalry, etc. Chapters 7, 8 and 9 provide market analyses by application, by enduse sector and by geographical region. Chapter 10, titled 'Competitive Landscape', reviews merger and acquisition activity in the industry, capacity expansions and new product innovations. Clariant's chlorine-resistant Leucophor BMBB and Hostalux ACK are highlighted in this context. Chapter 11 contains profiles of the top ten companies: the list is the same as GVR's list, with the notable omission of Deepak Nitrite. Chapter 12 is essentially an appendix, containing a discussion guide, summarising insights from industry experts and drawing attention to M&M's portfolio of reports, support services (Knowledge Store and Real Time Market Intelligence) and options for custom-made ancillary studies. 'Optical Brighteners Market by Application & by End-User, with Global Forecasts to 2020' (Report code: CH-4198), 145 pages, 122 tables, 45 charts. Price: $5650 for single-user licence; $8150 for corporate licence, electronic copy (in *.PDF format). Original Source: Markets & Markets Ltd, Unit 802, Tower 7 SZE, Magarpatta, Hadapsar, Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India, Tel (UK): +44 800 368 9399, Tel (US): +1 888 600 6441, Website: http://www.marketsandmarkets. © Markets & Markets Ltd 2016. Original Source: Grand View Research Inc (Suite 3036, 28 2nd Street, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA, Tel: +1 415 349 0058. Website: http://www.grandviewresearch.com) © Grand View Research 2016
October 2016
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PLANTS Canada: Ampacet – masterbatch Ampacet Corp is nearing completion of a $5 M project to double the size of its colour concentrates plant at Kitchener, Ontario (about 100 km west of Toronto). The project also entails enlarging warehousing space at the site, so that Ampacet will be able to cease using a third-party storage facility at Cambridge (about 20 km southeast of Kitchener). The Ontario Government is contributing C$400,000 towards funding the expansion, which will create 15 additional jobs over the next few years, raising the headcount here to 88. Original Source: Plastics News, 27 Jul 2016, (Website: http://www.plasticsnews.com) © Crain Communications Inc 2016
China & Japan: Tokai Carbon – carbon black In mid-February 2016, Tokai Carbon (headquartered in Tokyo) outlined its mid-term management plan T-18, declaring that it would implement various rationalisation moves designed to improve the group's profitability. On 23 June, the Board of Directors confirmed that Tokai Carbon would shut down one of the four production lines at its Tianjin (China) carbon black plant, reducing nameplate capacity there from 110,000 tonnes/y to 70,000 tonnes/y by the end of 2016. The plant will also become more focused on producing high-value speciality carbon blacks. This move followed taking a substantial asset impairment charge on its Tianjin plant in the light of falling prices and a widening carbon black supply/demand gap in the Chinese market. On 25 August, Tokai Carbon announced that it would shut down one of the four production lines at its Ishinomaki carbon black plant in Miyagi prefecture (50 km northeast of Sendai). The closure will be completed by the end of September 2016, reducing capacity here from 60,000 tonnes/y to 46,000 tonnes/y. Original Source: Tokai Carbon, 1 Jul & 25 Aug 2016 (Aoyama Building 2-3, Kita-Aoyama 1chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-8636, Japan, Website: http://www.tokaicarbon.co.jp) © Tokai Carbon 2016
China: Cabot – research centre for carbon black, plastics masterbatch & fumed silica Cabot Corp will establish a new "applications innovation laboratory'' adjacent to its existing regional headquarters building in Shanghai. The facility will be dedicated to research and development in all the fields in which Cabot is active, including: carbon black, activated carbon, plastics masterbatch, inkjet colorants, fumed silica and fumed metal oxides. It will be staffed by more than 30 scientists and it will be equipped with state-of-the-art analytical and testing equipment. Original Source: Speciality Chemicals, Jul 2016, 36 (6), 7 (Website: http://www. specchemonline.com) © Quartz Chemicals Ltd 2016.
China: OCI & Shandong Energy Zaozhuang Mining – carbon black Shandong OCI Jianyang Carbon Black Co – a joint venture owned 51% by OCI (headquartered in Seoul) and 49% by Shandong Energy Zaozhuang Mining Group – has started production at a new 80,000 tonnes/y carbon black plant on a 13 hectares site in the ZaozhuangXuecheng Development Zone (250 km south of the provincial capital, Jinan). An official inauguration ceremony was held on 8 September 2016. In due course, the plant will be expanded to 200,000 tonnes/y. OCI's wholly-owned subsidiary, established in Shandong province eight years ago, will supply feedstock for the new plant. Tail-gas from the carbon black plant will be supplied to Shandong Energy's cogeneration facility, while byproduct steam will be supplied to OCI. OCI already has two long-established carbon black plants in its home country – at Pohang and Gwangyang – producing 270,000 tonnes/y. The OCI group reported post-tax profit at $16.5 M on revenues of $888 M in 2015. Original Source: OCI Corp, 9 Sep 2016 (16th Floor, Ferrum Tower, 19 Eulji-ro 5-gil, Suhadong, Jung-gu, Seoul, Korea, Website: http:// www.ocicorp.co.kr) © OCI Corp
Finland: Huber – Spherilex precipitated silica & silicates Huber Engineered Materials (part of the JM Huber Corp group) has patented a process for making perfectly spherical precipitated silica and silicate particles and it is now building the world's first
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FOCUS commercial-scale plant to employ this process at its Hamina site (150 km northeast along the coast from Helsinki). The plant is expected to come on-stream in 1Q 2017 and the products will be marketed globally under the brandname Spherilex. There will be quite a wide range of Spherilex pigments, each with a tightly controlled surface area, average particle size and particle size distribution. They are designed to provide functional benefits in paints, plastics and personal care products. Huber already has a substantial precipitated silica plant at Hamina, as well as at five similar complexes strategically located throughout the world, namely at: Oostende (Belgium); Jhagadia, Gujarat (India); Qingdao, Shandong (China); Etowah, Tennessee & Havre de Grace, Maryland (United States). Original Source: Huber Engineered Materials, 27 Jul 2016 (Cumberland Center II, Suite 600, 3100 Cumberland Boulevard, Atlanta, GA 30339, USA, Website: http://www. hubermaterials.com) © JM Huber Corp 2016
Germany: Bruchsaler Farben – bismuth vanadate At its Bruchsal site (25 km northeast of Karlsruhe), Bruchsaler Farbenfabrik GmbH & Co KG recently raised its capacity for making Brufasol bismuth vanadate pigments, which are marketed as suitable substitutes for chrome yellow. The company has also recently installed a new 9500 litre dry pigment blending mixer, with the aim of improving its flexibility. Original Source: Farbe und Lack (Online Version), 11 Aug 2016, (Website: http://www. farbeundlack.de/) (in German) © Vincentz Network 2016
Germany: Heubach – complex inorganic coloured pigments At its Langelsheim site (80 km southeast of Hannover), Heubach is about to bring on-stream a second production line for the manufacture of Heucodur complex inorganic colour pigments. The first production line was installed here in 2013. The process for making Heucodur pigments entails calcination at temperatures exceeding 800 8C. The products have excellent weather resistance, thermal stability and chemical stability. Heucodur pigments are particularly suitable for: high-end industrial coatings, coil coatings, powder coatings, decorative paints
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(especially where opacity is a key criterion), plastics, building materials, plaster and ceramic products. Original Source: Farbe und Lack (Online Version), 9 Aug 2016, (Website: http://www. farbeundlack.de/) (in German) © Vincentz Network 2016
UK: Broadway – masterbatch Broadway Colours, founded in 1997, produces plastic masterbatches and compounds at its 0.84 hectares site in Upper Holton in Suffolk (2 km east of Halesworth and 65 km northwest of Bury St Edmunds). The company has recently completed a significant expansion, installing a new grinder, a larger mixing unit and a new twin-screw extrusion line. It has also added a second spectrophotometer for its indexing system. Original Source: Compounding World, Aug 2016, 5 (Website: http://www.amiplastics.com/ mags) © Applied Market Information Ltd 2016
US & Germany: Nabaltec At the beginning of August 2016, Sherwin Alumina (a subsidiary of the Glencore group) announced that it would shut down its alumina plant at Gregory (20 km northeast of Corpus Christi, TX) by the end of that month. This had immediate ramifications for Nashtec's Corpus Christi plant for producing fine-grained precipitated alumina trihydrate (ATH), using raw material supplied by Sherwin Alumina. Nashtec is a joint venture company, owned 51% by Nabaltec (of Germany) and 49% by Sherwin Alumina. Sherwin Alumina had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection status in January 2016, citing an unresolved bauxite supply dispute with Noranda and a bleak outlook on alumina prices and profitability. Four months later, it was rescued by another Glencore subsidiary, which agreed to pay $54 M to acquire all the company's assets in consideration for forgiveness of $95 M worth of debt plus $250,000 cash. Glencore also gave Sherwin Alumina $40 M to continue operating "as a going concern.'' Nabaltec has announced a temporary suspension of ATH production for 9-12 months, with customer requirements being met from Nabaltec's wholly-owned ATH plant at Schwandorf (90 km east of Nuremberg). In recent months, Nabaltec has been actively debottlenecking the
Schwandorf plant so as to increase its capacity beyond 80,000 tonnes/y. Original Source: Nabaltec AG, 2 & 12 Aug 2016 (Alustrasse 50-52, 92421 Schwandorf, Germany, Website: http://www.nabaltec.de) © Nabaltec 2016
US: Evonik – precipitated silica Evonik Industries (headquartered in Essen, Germany) is poised to commence construction work on a new precipitated silica plant at the Bushy Park Industrial Estate, near Goose Creek, in Berkeley County on the northern outskirts of Charleston, SC. Nearly $130 M has been budgeted for this project and it will benefit from a $500,000 economic development grant from State of South Carolina to assist with site preparation and building construction. When the plant is up and running, which should be before the end of 2017, it will create jobs for about 55 employees. No capacity data has been released. The Bushy Park site was selected after evaluating a number of potential sites in the southeastern US. While this exercise was ongoing during the second half of 2015, Mr Klaus Engel (Chairman) said that this precipitated silica project would represent Evonik's biggest investment in the US this decade. Most of the output from the plant will be sold to tyre manufacturers. South Carolina is the leading US state for tyre production, with plants operated by three separate companies – Michelin, Bridgestone and Continental – producing about 30 M units per annum. Trelleborg inaugurated a new tractor tyres plant at Spartanburg, SC, in January 2016 and a fifth company – Giti (headquartered in Singapore) – plans to open another car tyres plant in South Carolina next year, at Richburg, Chester County, producing 5 M units per annum. Evonik already has 11 precipitated silica plants worldwide, including one at Chester, PA (25 km southwest of Philadelphia), which was expanded by 20,000 tonnes/y in September 2014. Evonik also has five plants producing silanes: Rheinfelden (Germany); Antwerp (Belgium); Rizhao (Shandong province, China); Mobile, AL and Weston, MI (both in the United States). It is estimated that 30% of current world tyre production of 1.4 bn units per annum entails the consumption of silica and silane. Original Source: Charleston Post & Courier, 5 Jul 2016 (Website: http://www.postandcourier. com) © Evening Post Industries, 2016
October 2016
October 2016
ON
PIGMENTS
PLANTS Canada: Ampacet – masterbatch Ampacet Corp is nearing completion of a $5 M project to double the size of its colour concentrates plant at Kitchener, Ontario (about 100 km west of Toronto). The project also entails enlarging warehousing space at the site, so that Ampacet will be able to cease using a third-party storage facility at Cambridge (about 20 km southeast of Kitchener). The Ontario Government is contributing C$400,000 towards funding the expansion, which will create 15 additional jobs over the next few years, raising the headcount here to 88. Original Source: Plastics News, 27 Jul 2016, (Website: http://www.plasticsnews.com) © Crain Communications Inc 2016
China & Japan: Tokai Carbon – carbon black In mid-February 2016, Tokai Carbon (headquartered in Tokyo) outlined its mid-term management plan T-18, declaring that it would implement various rationalisation moves designed to improve the group's profitability. On 23 June, the Board of Directors confirmed that Tokai Carbon would shut down one of the four production lines at its Tianjin (China) carbon black plant, reducing nameplate capacity there from 110,000 tonnes/y to 70,000 tonnes/y by the end of 2016. The plant will also become more focused on producing high-value speciality carbon blacks. This move followed taking a substantial asset impairment charge on its Tianjin plant in the light of falling prices and a widening carbon black supply/demand gap in the Chinese market. On 25 August, Tokai Carbon announced that it would shut down one of the four production lines at its Ishinomaki carbon black plant in Miyagi prefecture (50 km northeast of Sendai). The closure will be completed by the end of September 2016, reducing capacity here from 60,000 tonnes/y to 46,000 tonnes/y. Original Source: Tokai Carbon, 1 Jul & 25 Aug 2016 (Aoyama Building 2-3, Kita-Aoyama 1chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-8636, Japan, Website: http://www.tokaicarbon.co.jp) © Tokai Carbon 2016
China: Cabot – research centre for carbon black, plastics masterbatch & fumed silica Cabot Corp will establish a new "applications innovation laboratory'' adjacent to its existing regional headquarters building in Shanghai. The facility will be dedicated to research and development in all the fields in which Cabot is active, including: carbon black, activated carbon, plastics masterbatch, inkjet colorants, fumed silica and fumed metal oxides. It will be staffed by more than 30 scientists and it will be equipped with state-of-the-art analytical and testing equipment. Original Source: Speciality Chemicals, Jul 2016, 36 (6), 7 (Website: http://www. specchemonline.com) © Quartz Chemicals Ltd 2016.
China: OCI & Shandong Energy Zaozhuang Mining – carbon black Shandong OCI Jianyang Carbon Black Co – a joint venture owned 51% by OCI (headquartered in Seoul) and 49% by Shandong Energy Zaozhuang Mining Group – has started production at a new 80,000 tonnes/y carbon black plant on a 13 hectares site in the ZaozhuangXuecheng Development Zone (250 km south of the provincial capital, Jinan). An official inauguration ceremony was held on 8 September 2016. In due course, the plant will be expanded to 200,000 tonnes/y. OCI's wholly-owned subsidiary, established in Shandong province eight years ago, will supply feedstock for the new plant. Tail-gas from the carbon black plant will be supplied to Shandong Energy's cogeneration facility, while byproduct steam will be supplied to OCI. OCI already has two long-established carbon black plants in its home country – at Pohang and Gwangyang – producing 270,000 tonnes/y. The OCI group reported post-tax profit at $16.5 M on revenues of $888 M in 2015. Original Source: OCI Corp, 9 Sep 2016 (16th Floor, Ferrum Tower, 19 Eulji-ro 5-gil, Suhadong, Jung-gu, Seoul, Korea, Website: http:// www.ocicorp.co.kr) © OCI Corp
Finland: Huber – Spherilex precipitated silica & silicates Huber Engineered Materials (part of the JM Huber Corp group) has patented a process for making perfectly spherical precipitated silica and silicate particles and it is now building the world's first
5
FOCUS commercial-scale plant to employ this process at its Hamina site (150 km northeast along the coast from Helsinki). The plant is expected to come on-stream in 1Q 2017 and the products will be marketed globally under the brandname Spherilex. There will be quite a wide range of Spherilex pigments, each with a tightly controlled surface area, average particle size and particle size distribution. They are designed to provide functional benefits in paints, plastics and personal care products. Huber already has a substantial precipitated silica plant at Hamina, as well as at five similar complexes strategically located throughout the world, namely at: Oostende (Belgium); Jhagadia, Gujarat (India); Qingdao, Shandong (China); Etowah, Tennessee & Havre de Grace, Maryland (United States). Original Source: Huber Engineered Materials, 27 Jul 2016 (Cumberland Center II, Suite 600, 3100 Cumberland Boulevard, Atlanta, GA 30339, USA, Website: http://www. hubermaterials.com) © JM Huber Corp 2016
Germany: Bruchsaler Farben – bismuth vanadate At its Bruchsal site (25 km northeast of Karlsruhe), Bruchsaler Farbenfabrik GmbH & Co KG recently raised its capacity for making Brufasol bismuth vanadate pigments, which are marketed as suitable substitutes for chrome yellow. The company has also recently installed a new 9500 litre dry pigment blending mixer, with the aim of improving its flexibility. Original Source: Farbe und Lack (Online Version), 11 Aug 2016, (Website: http://www. farbeundlack.de/) (in German) © Vincentz Network 2016
Germany: Heubach – complex inorganic coloured pigments At its Langelsheim site (80 km southeast of Hannover), Heubach is about to bring on-stream a second production line for the manufacture of Heucodur complex inorganic colour pigments. The first production line was installed here in 2013. The process for making Heucodur pigments entails calcination at temperatures exceeding 800 8C. The products have excellent weather resistance, thermal stability and chemical stability. Heucodur pigments are particularly suitable for: high-end industrial coatings, coil coatings, powder coatings, decorative paints
6
ON
PIGMENTS
(especially where opacity is a key criterion), plastics, building materials, plaster and ceramic products. Original Source: Farbe und Lack (Online Version), 9 Aug 2016, (Website: http://www. farbeundlack.de/) (in German) © Vincentz Network 2016
UK: Broadway – masterbatch Broadway Colours, founded in 1997, produces plastic masterbatches and compounds at its 0.84 hectares site in Upper Holton in Suffolk (2 km east of Halesworth and 65 km northwest of Bury St Edmunds). The company has recently completed a significant expansion, installing a new grinder, a larger mixing unit and a new twin-screw extrusion line. It has also added a second spectrophotometer for its indexing system. Original Source: Compounding World, Aug 2016, 5 (Website: http://www.amiplastics.com/ mags) © Applied Market Information Ltd 2016
US & Germany: Nabaltec At the beginning of August 2016, Sherwin Alumina (a subsidiary of the Glencore group) announced that it would shut down its alumina plant at Gregory (20 km northeast of Corpus Christi, TX) by the end of that month. This had immediate ramifications for Nashtec's Corpus Christi plant for producing fine-grained precipitated alumina trihydrate (ATH), using raw material supplied by Sherwin Alumina. Nashtec is a joint venture company, owned 51% by Nabaltec (of Germany) and 49% by Sherwin Alumina. Sherwin Alumina had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection status in January 2016, citing an unresolved bauxite supply dispute with Noranda and a bleak outlook on alumina prices and profitability. Four months later, it was rescued by another Glencore subsidiary, which agreed to pay $54 M to acquire all the company's assets in consideration for forgiveness of $95 M worth of debt plus $250,000 cash. Glencore also gave Sherwin Alumina $40 M to continue operating "as a going concern.'' Nabaltec has announced a temporary suspension of ATH production for 9-12 months, with customer requirements being met from Nabaltec's wholly-owned ATH plant at Schwandorf (90 km east of Nuremberg). In recent months, Nabaltec has been actively debottlenecking the
Schwandorf plant so as to increase its capacity beyond 80,000 tonnes/y. Original Source: Nabaltec AG, 2 & 12 Aug 2016 (Alustrasse 50-52, 92421 Schwandorf, Germany, Website: http://www.nabaltec.de) © Nabaltec 2016
US: Evonik – precipitated silica Evonik Industries (headquartered in Essen, Germany) is poised to commence construction work on a new precipitated silica plant at the Bushy Park Industrial Estate, near Goose Creek, in Berkeley County on the northern outskirts of Charleston, SC. Nearly $130 M has been budgeted for this project and it will benefit from a $500,000 economic development grant from State of South Carolina to assist with site preparation and building construction. When the plant is up and running, which should be before the end of 2017, it will create jobs for about 55 employees. No capacity data has been released. The Bushy Park site was selected after evaluating a number of potential sites in the southeastern US. While this exercise was ongoing during the second half of 2015, Mr Klaus Engel (Chairman) said that this precipitated silica project would represent Evonik's biggest investment in the US this decade. Most of the output from the plant will be sold to tyre manufacturers. South Carolina is the leading US state for tyre production, with plants operated by three separate companies – Michelin, Bridgestone and Continental – producing about 30 M units per annum. Trelleborg inaugurated a new tractor tyres plant at Spartanburg, SC, in January 2016 and a fifth company – Giti (headquartered in Singapore) – plans to open another car tyres plant in South Carolina next year, at Richburg, Chester County, producing 5 M units per annum. Evonik already has 11 precipitated silica plants worldwide, including one at Chester, PA (25 km southwest of Philadelphia), which was expanded by 20,000 tonnes/y in September 2014. Evonik also has five plants producing silanes: Rheinfelden (Germany); Antwerp (Belgium); Rizhao (Shandong province, China); Mobile, AL and Weston, MI (both in the United States). It is estimated that 30% of current world tyre production of 1.4 bn units per annum entails the consumption of silica and silane. Original Source: Charleston Post & Courier, 5 Jul 2016 (Website: http://www.postandcourier. com) © Evening Post Industries, 2016
October 2016