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India: Asahi Songwon – phthalo blue
FOCUS
ON
PIGMENTS
own-brand products will be 100% natural. In the vast majority of cases, we will be able to achieve this without any impact on the taste of our products.” These are very bold claims. Certainly, the brightly coloured coaltar derivatives, such as E-102 (tartrazine, yellow), E-123 (amaranth, red/purple), E-124 (Ponceau 4R, green) and E-127 (erythrosine, cherry pink) are easy targets. Several studies have been published over the years, linking excessive consumption of these colorants to zinc deficiency, which in turn can be associated with hyperactivity and other behaviour problems. But it seems highly unfair to stigmatise the caramels (E-150a, E-150b, et seq) as undesirable food additives. Caramel colorants, ranging from dark brown to black, are made by the controlled heat treatment of sugarbeet or sugarcane, with or without the presence of alkalis or acids. Caramels have been commercially manufactured since the early 1800s and they are still among the most widely used of all the food colorants. Indeed, caramel is often marketed as a “natural food colour.” So too are: chlorophyll (E-140), carotene (E-160a), annatto (E-160b), the xanthophylls, including canthaxanthin and lutein (E-161) and beet red (E-162). The apparently harmless inorganic food colorants, notably E-170 (calcium carbonate), E-171 (titanium dioxide) and E-172 (iron oxides), will also be affected by Asda’s blanket prohibition on E-numbers.
There was a substantial drop in shipments to the paper industry, while shipments to the paint, ink and plastics industries were more or less unchanged. Exports of TiO2 by Japanese producers rose by 2% to 82,331 tonnes, with significant increases in exports to China and Southeast Asia.
Reg Adams 1) The Independent, 16 May 2007 (Website: http://www.independent.co.uk) 2) UK Government Food Standards Agency, 23 May 2007 (Website: http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/foodlabels/ understandingenumbers.html)
Kemira has announced plans to invest €4.9 M to raise capacity for making Co-Coat calcium sulfate pigments at Siilinjärvi from 150,000 tonnes/y to 175,000 tonnes/y. Until now, the company’s output has been in paste form, but the latest project will include the installation of equipment to enable Kemira to make dry formulations too. The raw material for making Co-Coat is by-product phospho-gypsum from the phosphoric acid plant at Siilinjärvi, operated by Growhow. Co-Coat is mainly used by papermakers for coating printing papers to improve brightness, opacity and printability.
MARKETS Japan’s TiO2 suppliers see big drop in shipments to papermakers According to the country’s trade association – the JTDA – Japanese TiO2 pigment manufacturers shipped 162,813 tonnes to Japanese customers during the fiscal year to end-March 2007. This represented a 3% decline on the previous year.
2
Japan Chemical Week, 7 Jun 2007, 48 (2419), 4
Dyes & pigments account for about 10,000 tonnes/y of US aniline US aniline consumption is expected to increase from 995,000 tonnes in 2006 to 1.164 M tonnes in 2010. But the offtake of aniline for dyes and pigments accounts for only 1% of total consumption nowadays. The main driver is the manufacture of methylene di-para-phenylene isocyanate (MDI), accounting for 87% of current consumption. Other end-uses include: rubber chemicals (7% of the total), herbicides (2%) and speciality fibres (2%). Other minor end-use sectors include: pharmaceuticals, epoxy curing agents and explosives. Total US aniline capacity is of the order of 1.0 M tonnes/y, the major producers being: Rubicon, First Chemical, BASF, Bayer and DuPont. ICIS Chemical Business Americas, 28 May 2007, (Website: http://www.icbamericas.com)
PLANTS
Germany: Albemarle – ATH Albemarle (of Baton Rouge, US) has confirmed that its project to expand alumina trihydrate (ATH) capacity at Bergheim (Germany) should be completed by the end of 2007. Capacity here is to be raised from 125,000 tonnes/y to 145,000 tonnes/y. The Bergheim plant was formerly owned by Martinswerke and the ATH flame retardants manufactured here are still sold under the Martinal brandname. ATH is suitable for use in plastics and rubber applications where the processing temperature is below 200°C. For applications where the processing temperature is above 200°C, Albemarle offers Magnifin magnesium hydroxide flame retardants. The company recently completed a project at the Breitenau (Austria) plant for doubling Magnifin capacity to 40,000 tonnes/y. (See also ‘Focus on Pigments’, Jul 2007, 5). At around $700 M/y, sales of flame retardants account for 70-80% of the total annual sales revenue of Albemarle’s Polymer Additives Division. According to a recent study by Freedonia (of Cleveland, OH), global demand for flame retardants is forecast to rise at 4.8% per annum to reach 2.2 M tonnes, worth $4.9 bn, by 2009. Press Release from: Albemarle Corp, 451 Florida Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70801, USA, Website: http://www.albemarle.com (19 Jun 2007) & ICIS Chemical Business, 25 Jun 2007 (Website: http://icischemicalbusiness.com)
Finland: Kemira – gypsum pigment
Press Release from: Kemira Oyj, Porkkalankatu 3, PO Box 330, FIN-00101, Helsinki, Finland, Website: http://www.kemira.com (21 Jun 2007) & Chimie Pharma Hebdo, 2 Jul 2007, (388), 8 (Website: http://www.france-chimie.com) (in French)
India: Asahi Songwon – phthalo blue Asahi Songwon plans to raise funds for its planned expansion by means of an initial public offering (IPO) of shares. The sale price will be within the range Rup 90-108 per share and the company hopes to raise Rup 335 M. The total cost of the expansion programme at Vadodara/Baroda (Gujarat) is now assessed at Rup 520 M. It will encompass raising crude phthalo blue capacity from 3600 tonnes/y to 10,800 tonnes/y, establishing a new 1200 tonnes/y Pigment Blue 15-beta unit and a new 2 MW power generation facility. Asahi Songwon already has a 1200 tonnes/y Pigment Green unit at Vadodara. Business Line, 4 May 2007, 14 (123), 17
AUGUST 2007
ON
PIGMENTS
own-brand products will be 100% natural. In the vast majority of cases, we will be able to achieve this without any impact on the taste of our products.” These are very bold claims. Certainly, the brightly coloured coaltar derivatives, such as E-102 (tartrazine, yellow), E-123 (amaranth, red/purple), E-124 (Ponceau 4R, green) and E-127 (erythrosine, cherry pink) are easy targets. Several studies have been published over the years, linking excessive consumption of these colorants to zinc deficiency, which in turn can be associated with hyperactivity and other behaviour problems. But it seems highly unfair to stigmatise the caramels (E-150a, E-150b, et seq) as undesirable food additives. Caramel colorants, ranging from dark brown to black, are made by the controlled heat treatment of sugarbeet or sugarcane, with or without the presence of alkalis or acids. Caramels have been commercially manufactured since the early 1800s and they are still among the most widely used of all the food colorants. Indeed, caramel is often marketed as a “natural food colour.” So too are: chlorophyll (E-140), carotene (E-160a), annatto (E-160b), the xanthophylls, including canthaxanthin and lutein (E-161) and beet red (E-162). The apparently harmless inorganic food colorants, notably E-170 (calcium carbonate), E-171 (titanium dioxide) and E-172 (iron oxides), will also be affected by Asda’s blanket prohibition on E-numbers.
There was a substantial drop in shipments to the paper industry, while shipments to the paint, ink and plastics industries were more or less unchanged. Exports of TiO2 by Japanese producers rose by 2% to 82,331 tonnes, with significant increases in exports to China and Southeast Asia.
Reg Adams 1) The Independent, 16 May 2007 (Website: http://www.independent.co.uk) 2) UK Government Food Standards Agency, 23 May 2007 (Website: http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/foodlabels/ understandingenumbers.html)
Kemira has announced plans to invest €4.9 M to raise capacity for making Co-Coat calcium sulfate pigments at Siilinjärvi from 150,000 tonnes/y to 175,000 tonnes/y. Until now, the company’s output has been in paste form, but the latest project will include the installation of equipment to enable Kemira to make dry formulations too. The raw material for making Co-Coat is by-product phospho-gypsum from the phosphoric acid plant at Siilinjärvi, operated by Growhow. Co-Coat is mainly used by papermakers for coating printing papers to improve brightness, opacity and printability.
MARKETS Japan’s TiO2 suppliers see big drop in shipments to papermakers According to the country’s trade association – the JTDA – Japanese TiO2 pigment manufacturers shipped 162,813 tonnes to Japanese customers during the fiscal year to end-March 2007. This represented a 3% decline on the previous year.
2
Japan Chemical Week, 7 Jun 2007, 48 (2419), 4
Dyes & pigments account for about 10,000 tonnes/y of US aniline US aniline consumption is expected to increase from 995,000 tonnes in 2006 to 1.164 M tonnes in 2010. But the offtake of aniline for dyes and pigments accounts for only 1% of total consumption nowadays. The main driver is the manufacture of methylene di-para-phenylene isocyanate (MDI), accounting for 87% of current consumption. Other end-uses include: rubber chemicals (7% of the total), herbicides (2%) and speciality fibres (2%). Other minor end-use sectors include: pharmaceuticals, epoxy curing agents and explosives. Total US aniline capacity is of the order of 1.0 M tonnes/y, the major producers being: Rubicon, First Chemical, BASF, Bayer and DuPont. ICIS Chemical Business Americas, 28 May 2007, (Website: http://www.icbamericas.com)
PLANTS
Germany: Albemarle – ATH Albemarle (of Baton Rouge, US) has confirmed that its project to expand alumina trihydrate (ATH) capacity at Bergheim (Germany) should be completed by the end of 2007. Capacity here is to be raised from 125,000 tonnes/y to 145,000 tonnes/y. The Bergheim plant was formerly owned by Martinswerke and the ATH flame retardants manufactured here are still sold under the Martinal brandname. ATH is suitable for use in plastics and rubber applications where the processing temperature is below 200°C. For applications where the processing temperature is above 200°C, Albemarle offers Magnifin magnesium hydroxide flame retardants. The company recently completed a project at the Breitenau (Austria) plant for doubling Magnifin capacity to 40,000 tonnes/y. (See also ‘Focus on Pigments’, Jul 2007, 5). At around $700 M/y, sales of flame retardants account for 70-80% of the total annual sales revenue of Albemarle’s Polymer Additives Division. According to a recent study by Freedonia (of Cleveland, OH), global demand for flame retardants is forecast to rise at 4.8% per annum to reach 2.2 M tonnes, worth $4.9 bn, by 2009. Press Release from: Albemarle Corp, 451 Florida Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70801, USA, Website: http://www.albemarle.com (19 Jun 2007) & ICIS Chemical Business, 25 Jun 2007 (Website: http://icischemicalbusiness.com)
Finland: Kemira – gypsum pigment
Press Release from: Kemira Oyj, Porkkalankatu 3, PO Box 330, FIN-00101, Helsinki, Finland, Website: http://www.kemira.com (21 Jun 2007) & Chimie Pharma Hebdo, 2 Jul 2007, (388), 8 (Website: http://www.france-chimie.com) (in French)
India: Asahi Songwon – phthalo blue Asahi Songwon plans to raise funds for its planned expansion by means of an initial public offering (IPO) of shares. The sale price will be within the range Rup 90-108 per share and the company hopes to raise Rup 335 M. The total cost of the expansion programme at Vadodara/Baroda (Gujarat) is now assessed at Rup 520 M. It will encompass raising crude phthalo blue capacity from 3600 tonnes/y to 10,800 tonnes/y, establishing a new 1200 tonnes/y Pigment Blue 15-beta unit and a new 2 MW power generation facility. Asahi Songwon already has a 1200 tonnes/y Pigment Green unit at Vadodara. Business Line, 4 May 2007, 14 (123), 17
AUGUST 2007