India & Indonesia: Toyo Ink – azo pigments & masterbatch

F O C US the high-performance organic pigments family, featuring intensive coloration and excellent weatherresistance. Depending on the chemical groups attached to the main five-ring heterocyclic molecular skeleton and depending on the crystal structure, quinacridone pigments can impart colours ranging from yellowshade red to violet. The manufacture of quinacridone usually involves the condensation of a succinosuccinate ester with aniline, followed by cyclisation to yield dihydroquinacridone, which is then oxidised to quinacridone. Derivatives are made from quinacridone by substitution reactions. Clariant (formerly Hoechst) is one of the world’s leading producers of quinacridone pigments. The company recently announced that, as part of its drive for sustainable development, it has begun using bio-succinic acid instead of synthetic succinic acid derived from petroleum sources as a raw material for its quinacridone plant. Synthetic succinic acid is normally produced by the hydrogenation of maleic anhydride or it is recovered as a by-product during the manufacture of adipic acid. Bio-succinic acid will replace synthetic succinic acid for a significant slice of the FrankfurtHöchst plant’s overall requirements. Clariant states that this will help to reduce the carbon footprint of its operations at Frankfurt-Höchst without affecting the production process or final product quality. The bio-succinic acid (also known as “amber acid” or 1,4-butanedioic acid) is supplied to Clariant by Myriant Corp, which has a 1300 tonnes/y plant at Leuna (30 km west of Leipzig, Germany) and a 13,600 tonnes/y plant at Lake Providence, LA (300 km north of Baton Rouge in the US). Thyssen Krupp Uhde provided engineering services for both plants. Myriant states that its bio-succinic acid is produced naturally from renewable raw materials (sorghum or corn crops) as a product of cellular metabolism. CO2 is sequestered as an intrinsic part of the process chemistry, with a positive effect on both the reaction yield and on the overall carbon footprint The product is chemically identical to synthetic succinic acid and can be used as a “drop-in replacement” for synthetic succinic acid in metal-plating and in JUNE 2014

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the manufacture of pigments, plastics and pharmaceuticals. Myriant (headquartered at Quincy, MA) started-up its plant at Lake Providence in 1Q 2013, with an initial capacity for producing 13,600 tonnes/y of bio-succinic acid. In order to meet demand, it plans to step up capacity here to 63,500 tonnes/y by 2Q 2015. Competitor suppliers of biosuccinic acid include: Reverdia (a joint venture between Royal DSM and Roquette Frères, with a plant at Geleen in eastern Netherlands); BioAmber (with an existing plant at Pomacle, near Reims in France, and a joint venture project with Mitsui to build a large plant at Sarnia in Ontario, Canada); and Succinity (a joint venture between BASF and Corbion Purac, with a plant at Montmelo in Catalonia, Spain). Original Source: Clariant AG, Rothaustrasse 61, CH-4132 Muttenz 1, Switzerland, website: http://www.clariant.com (8 Apr 2014), © Clariant 2014. Original Source: Myriant Corp, 3 Batterymarch Park (Third Floor), Quincy, MA 02169, USA, website: http://www.myriant.com (27 May 2014), © Myriant 2014. Original Source: Chimie Pharma Hebdo, 14 Apr 2014, (672), (Website: http://www.industrie.com/chimie/) (in French), © ETAI Information 2014

India: Meghmani – phthalo blue Meghmani Organics Ltd (headquartered in Ahmedabad, Gujarat province) completed the first stage of its Rup 1.2 bn ($20 M) programme at its Dahej complex at the end of November 2013. The 9 hectares site at Dahej (115 km southwest of Vadodara/Baroda) was acquired by Meghmani towards the end of 2009 and construction work on installing new pigment plants here began in 2010. The capacities of the new plants are cited as: 7200 tonnes/y of crude phthalo blue; 3600 tonnes/y of Pigment Blue-15:2 beta; and 1200 tonnes/y of Pigment Blue15:2 alpha. More pigment facilities will be installed during the second stage of the programme, which should be completed by March 2016. When all the plants are up and running, Meghmani expects to generate a profit of Rup 200 M ($3.4 M) on sales revenues of Rup 2 bn ($34 M). Because Dahej is in a special economic zone (SEZ) within Gujarat, all profits earned during the early years’ operations will be tax-free. Original Source: Chemical Business (India), Jan 2014, 28 (1), 58 (Website: http://www.magazinecommunications.com/) © Magazine Communications Pvt. Ltd. 2014

India & Indonesia: Toyo Ink – azo pigments & masterbatch Toyo Ink recently declared that the 2000 tonnes/y azo pigments plant at Ankleshwar (90 km south of Vadodara/Baroda, Gujarat) has come on-stream. The plant was built as a 50:50 joint venture with the Heubach group on a site within Heubach’s Ankleshwar complex. (See also ‘Focus on Pigments’, Jun 2013, 6). Toyo Ink’s wholly-owned plant for making offset litho printing inks also came on-stream recently. This plant is located at Dahej (110 km southwest of Vadodara) and its construction cost Rup 1.5 bn (just over $25 M). No details of capacity were given. Toyo Ink also confirmed that its wholly-owned 10,000 tonnes/y plastics masterbatch plant at JakartaBekasi came on-stream last year and is now operating successfully. (See also ‘Focus on Pigments’, Nov 2011, 5) Original Source: Plastics News, 27 Jan 2014, (Website: http://www.plasticsnews.com), © Crain Communications Inc 2014

Ukraine/Russia: Krymsky Titan – TiO2 PJSC Crimea Titan reported its TiO2 pigment production at Armyansk for 1Q 2014 at 25,951 tonnes, representing a 6% increase on the 24,486 tonnes produced in 1Q 2013. Sulfuric acid production at Armyansk increased by 9% from 126,566 tonnes in 1Q 2013 to 137,649 tonnes in 1Q 2014. For full-year 2013, the company produced 108,000 tonnes of TiO2 pigment, representing a slight increase on the 2012 figure of 106,000 tonnes. The target for fullyear 2014 is 110,000 tonnes. However, achieving this target will not be easy in view of the current political situation. Crimea Titan (aka Krymsky Titan) has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of Group DF since December 2012. Group DF is wholly owned and controlled by the eponymous Mr Dmitry Firtash, the Ukrainian billion-

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