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Japan: Mitsubishi – titanium black
FOCUS French, Italian and Spanish plants with a view to implementing cost reductions that will involve job redundancies and some new capital investment. At the 80,000 tonnes/y Scarlino (Italy) plant, the workforce will be reduced from 270 to 210 by the end of 2010. The 80,000 tonnes/y Huelva (Spain) plant will be idled for 12 months, onwards from the end of June 2009. When the plant reopens next year, it will operate with 225 employees, representing about 75 fewer than now. Huntsman has also committed to invest €12.5 M in a modernisation programme for the Huelva plant and the Andalusian Regional Government has promised to contribute a further €1.25-1.875 M towards this programme. The 95,000 tonnes/y Calais (France) plant will be closed for six weeks during Summer 2009 for an extended maintenance campaign. But, its production target for this year has been raised from 45,000 tonnes to 65,000 tonnes, which is not much lower than the 70,000 tonnes output figure recorded for full-year 2008. The workforce quota at the Calais pigment plant will be reduced from 273 (including 20 job-vacancies) at the end of 2008 to 187 by 2012. In midJune, Huntsman announced another cost-reduction initiative for Calais. It has embarked on a feasibility study for establishing a fertiliser plant at Calais, which would ‘mop up’ all the spent acid wastes generated during TiO2 manufacture here. This would enable Huntsman to shut down its existing effluent treatment facilities, including a Lurgi-type acid-recycling plant and a 30,000 tonnes/y plant for making the magnesium-enriched fertiliser additive Magnolite. Assuming a positive outcome to the feasibility study, Huntsman will invest up to €30 M on this and other smaller projects at Calais. Meanwhile, during 1Q 2009, Huntsman permanently closed its 40,000 tonnes/y TiO2 pigment plant at Grimsby (UK). This was more than compensated by commissioning the third 50,000 tonnes/y ICON unit at its Greatham plant (further up the east coast of England), raising capacity here to 150,000 tonnes/y. With additional plants in South Africa and Malaysia plus a 50% stake
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in the Lake Charles (US) joint venture, Huntsman now has a global nameplate capacity of around 560,000 tonnes/y of TiO2, but actual production for 2009 will be significantly lower than this. TiO2 Worldwide Update, May/Jun 2009, 17 (3), 35-38
France: PolyOne – plastics masterbatch PolyOne (headquartered in Cleveland, OH) has announced job cuts for two of its French plastic masterbatch plants because of the recession. At Tossiat (near Bourg-enBresse in eastern France), the workforce will be reduced from 135 to 97. At St Ouen l’Aumône (in northwestern Paris), the workforce will be reduced from 80 to 53. PolyOne France reported a moderate profit on sales of €70 M in 2008, but the company is anticipating a 20-30% drop in sales revenue for full-year 2009. Currently, PolyOne employs 4000 people worldwide, of which about 1000 in Europe. More redundancies, besides the 65 in France, are anticipated at other locations. Plastiques et Caoutchoucs Magazine, Jun 2009, (867), 21 (in French)
India: Micro Inks – coloured toners Micro Inks Ltd has received Government environmental approval for its Rup 358 M project to expand capacity for making yellow and magenta toners at its Vapi plant in Gujarat. Micro Inks is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Michael Huber group. The Michael Huber group (not to be confused with the US-based JM Huber Corp) is a privately owned group of companies, with headquarters at Kirchheim (Germany). Chemical Weekly, 26 May 2009, 54 (41), 142
Japan: Hayashi Kasei – talc Hayashi Kasei is budgeting Yen 800 M for a project to expand its talc processing capacity at Hashimoto from 10,000 tonnes/y to 30,000 tonnes/y. Construction work is due to commence in September 2009, with the additional capacity becoming operational in April 2010. Hayashi has signed a long-term agreement with Golcha (of India) for the supply of
20,000 tonnes/y of crude talc from its mines in Rajasthan. With the additional output, Hayashi plans to increase its sales to the automotive plastics sector. Japan Chemical Web, 3 Jun 2009, (Website: http://www.japanchemicalweb.jp)
Japan: Mitsubishi – carbon black Last August, Mitsubishi Chemical declared that it was reviewing options for the future of its carbon black business in the light of spiralling raw material costs, which then represented 80% of total manufacturing costs. The company has now declared that it will scale back on its activities at the Kurosaki, near KitaKyushu (Fukuoka prefecture) and Yokkaichi (Mie prefecture) plants, dropping standard grades and focusing on speciality grades for pigments, semiconductor trays and high-performance tyres. Japan Chemical Web, 23 Jun 2009, (Website: http://www.japanchemicalweb.jp)
Japan: Mitsubishi – titanium black Mitsubishi Materials intends to double its production of titanium black at Kashima (Ibaraki prefecture) to 20-40 tonnes/y by the fiscal year ending March 2012. Titanium black is manufactured by eliminating a certain proportion of the oxygen atoms in TiO2 and the company’s M-C grade, produced in this way, is said to have better light-protecting and electricalinsulating properties than carbon black. This is an important feature in the manufacture of liquid crystals for television and video screens: LCD displays, using titanium black, deliver clearer images with better lightshielding. Japan Chemical Web, 3 Jul 2009, (Website: http://www.japanchemicalweb.jp)
Malaysia: Sukano – plastics masterbatch Sukano (of Switzerland) inaugurated its new plastics masterbatch plant on 6 March 2009. The plant is located on the Jalan Kasil Industrial Estate at Johor Bahru in Malaysia and from here Sukano will supply all its Asian
AUGUST 2009
6
ON
PIGMENTS
in the Lake Charles (US) joint venture, Huntsman now has a global nameplate capacity of around 560,000 tonnes/y of TiO2, but actual production for 2009 will be significantly lower than this. TiO2 Worldwide Update, May/Jun 2009, 17 (3), 35-38
France: PolyOne – plastics masterbatch PolyOne (headquartered in Cleveland, OH) has announced job cuts for two of its French plastic masterbatch plants because of the recession. At Tossiat (near Bourg-enBresse in eastern France), the workforce will be reduced from 135 to 97. At St Ouen l’Aumône (in northwestern Paris), the workforce will be reduced from 80 to 53. PolyOne France reported a moderate profit on sales of €70 M in 2008, but the company is anticipating a 20-30% drop in sales revenue for full-year 2009. Currently, PolyOne employs 4000 people worldwide, of which about 1000 in Europe. More redundancies, besides the 65 in France, are anticipated at other locations. Plastiques et Caoutchoucs Magazine, Jun 2009, (867), 21 (in French)
India: Micro Inks – coloured toners Micro Inks Ltd has received Government environmental approval for its Rup 358 M project to expand capacity for making yellow and magenta toners at its Vapi plant in Gujarat. Micro Inks is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Michael Huber group. The Michael Huber group (not to be confused with the US-based JM Huber Corp) is a privately owned group of companies, with headquarters at Kirchheim (Germany). Chemical Weekly, 26 May 2009, 54 (41), 142
Japan: Hayashi Kasei – talc Hayashi Kasei is budgeting Yen 800 M for a project to expand its talc processing capacity at Hashimoto from 10,000 tonnes/y to 30,000 tonnes/y. Construction work is due to commence in September 2009, with the additional capacity becoming operational in April 2010. Hayashi has signed a long-term agreement with Golcha (of India) for the supply of
20,000 tonnes/y of crude talc from its mines in Rajasthan. With the additional output, Hayashi plans to increase its sales to the automotive plastics sector. Japan Chemical Web, 3 Jun 2009, (Website: http://www.japanchemicalweb.jp)
Japan: Mitsubishi – carbon black Last August, Mitsubishi Chemical declared that it was reviewing options for the future of its carbon black business in the light of spiralling raw material costs, which then represented 80% of total manufacturing costs. The company has now declared that it will scale back on its activities at the Kurosaki, near KitaKyushu (Fukuoka prefecture) and Yokkaichi (Mie prefecture) plants, dropping standard grades and focusing on speciality grades for pigments, semiconductor trays and high-performance tyres. Japan Chemical Web, 23 Jun 2009, (Website: http://www.japanchemicalweb.jp)
Japan: Mitsubishi – titanium black Mitsubishi Materials intends to double its production of titanium black at Kashima (Ibaraki prefecture) to 20-40 tonnes/y by the fiscal year ending March 2012. Titanium black is manufactured by eliminating a certain proportion of the oxygen atoms in TiO2 and the company’s M-C grade, produced in this way, is said to have better light-protecting and electricalinsulating properties than carbon black. This is an important feature in the manufacture of liquid crystals for television and video screens: LCD displays, using titanium black, deliver clearer images with better lightshielding. Japan Chemical Web, 3 Jul 2009, (Website: http://www.japanchemicalweb.jp)
Malaysia: Sukano – plastics masterbatch Sukano (of Switzerland) inaugurated its new plastics masterbatch plant on 6 March 2009. The plant is located on the Jalan Kasil Industrial Estate at Johor Bahru in Malaysia and from here Sukano will supply all its Asian
AUGUST 2009