FOCUS ON
P I G M E N T S
A MONTHLY REPORT FROM
REG ADAMS
APRIL 2012
In this issue
MARKETS 2-5
TiO2 prices raised to cover costs
despite buyers’ resistance
World carbon black supply &
demand rose by 6% last year
PLANTS 5-6
BASF to cease making PbCrO4
pigments in Germany
Omya poised to open GCC plant
in Indonesia
Orion expands South Korean
carbon black plant
Lifocolor to make more
masterbatch in Poland
Gestora Catalana opens second
Spanish masterbatch plant
COMPANIES 6 exterior paints, ranging from flat to
Nordmann Rassmann to sell
Hubron’s black masterbatch
Schulman buys British Vita’s
French masterbatch business
LEGISLATION 6-7
EU bans chrome yellow & moly
orange, with end-2014 sunset
LITIGATION 7 inherited the Ropaque product line as
Chinese State-owned company
indicted for espionage re TiO2
EVENTS 8 shells of which are made from a
PIGMENTS PIGMENTS
AN INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER MONITORING TECHNICAL AND
COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENTS IN THE PIGMENTS SECTOR ISSN 0969–6210
A BRIEF REVIEW OF NEW
PIGMENT PRODUCTS
During the past year or so, a number
of new pigment products have been
featured in press releases, brochures
and industry publications. Many of
them have also been displayed at
various trade shows around the world,
the most important of which are
regularly listed on the back page of
‘Focus on Pigments.’ In this editorial,
we shall review some of the more
interesting product launches.
In a climate of rapidly rising TiO2
prices, the search for suitable
extenders and potential substitutes
gathers momentum. Arkema (of
Colombes, France) recently launched
Celocor, a voided opaque polymer
latex product that offers hiding power
and functions as a partial TiO2
replacement in both interior and
semi-gloss finishes. It contains no
alkyl phenol ethoxylate (APE), is
odour-free and is compatible with
low-VOC paint formulations. Arkema
claims that Celocor offers a more
balanced approach to performance
attributes such as tint strength, gloss
development, burnish resistance and
scrub resistance than rival opacifiers.
Dow Chemical (of Midland, MI, US)
part of its $15 bn acquisition of Rohm
& Haas in March 2009. Ropaque
pigments are essentially uniform-
sized hollow spheres or beads, the
styrene-acrylic copolymer. They
impart opacity via air voids
encapsulated in the hard shell of the
bead and, unlike the air voids created
in a paint film by the use of pigment
extenders, they are not associated
PIGMENTS PIGMENTS
with increased porosity and structural
weakness of the paint film. Ropaque
pigments were first launched on the
market in 1979 and they are now
manufactured at 17 different Dow
sites around the world. Last year, Dow
relaunched an improved version of
Ropaque, claiming that it could
replace up to 20% of the TiO2 in a
satin or semi-gloss acrylic paint
formulation and up to 35% of the TiO2
in a high-quality flat acrylic paint
formulation. At the same time as the
Ropaque relaunch, Dow introduced
Evoque pre-composite polymer
technology, the objective of which is to
improve the dispersion of TiO2
pigment particles and reduce the risk
of crowding and agglomeration. Using
Evoque in architectural paints can
facilitate savings of 10-20% of the
amount of TiO2 required.
Sibelco Europe Minerals Plus
(formerly known as Ankerpoort, based
in Maastricht, Netherlands) recently
launched Portafill as a new type of
TiO2 extender. This is essentially a
mixture of high-purity hydrated
calcium and magnesium carbonates
with an ultrafine platelet structure. As
well as maintaining hiding efficiency
and whiteness, Portafill can function
as a rheology additive, altering the
deformation and flow of media to
which it is added. It represents an
alternative to long-established TiO2
extenders, such as ground and
precipitated calcium carbonates,
calcined kaolin, talc, silica, etc. Tor
Minerals International (which
originated as Benelite Corp of
America in 1973) has long supplied
buff and grey Hitox titanium pigments,
PIGMENTS PIGMENTS
 FOCUS
which are essentially fine-milled forms
of synrutile manufactured by the
Benelite process at a captively owned
plant in Malaysia. These pigments
provide reasonably good opacity for
non-white paints. Last year, Tor
Minerals (still headquartered at
Corpus Christi, TX, US) launched
Tioprem-250 pigments, representing
an improvement on the original Hitox
products by virtue of better thermal
stability. Using Tioprem-250 pigments
can offer cost savings through partial
replacement of both conventional TiO2
pigments and coloured pigments. PQ
Corp (of Valley Forge, PA, US)
recently widened its range of Zeocros
aluminosilicates, which function as
TiO2 extenders, offering weight-for-
weight savings on TiO2 of up to 25%,
together with the advantages of low oil
adsorption and hydrophilicity to
facilitate dispersion.
In the world of coloured pigments,
Shepherd Color (of Cincinnati, OH, US)
boldly announced earlier this year the
“first cobalt blue of the 21st Century.”
The product – Blue 10C595 – is a
cobalt aluminate blue spinel
(CI Pigment Blue 28), with a relatively
low surface area and low resin
demand, resulting in higher gloss. This
pigment is said to be ideal for
applications that require low heat build-
up and/or exceptional durability.
Shepherd Color also recently added to
its range of Arctic infrared-reflecting
pigments two new rutile-tin-zinc orange
pigments, namely Orange 10P320 and
Orange 10C321, both of which offer
high solar reflectivity. Towards the end
of last year, Sun Chemical (also based
in Cincinnati) launched Palomar Alpha
Blue 60, a reddish-blue high-
performance pigment suitable for water-
and solvent-based automotive and
industrial paints. It features good
viscosity, dispersibility and lightfastness.
Cappelle Pigments (headquartered at
Menen, Belgium) originally built its
reputation as a supplier of chrome
yellow pigments, but it ceased
producing these pigments in 2010 after
more than 75 years. Meanwhile, the
company established a good platform
for its future development with the
production of bismuth vanadates and
transparent iron oxides. Cappelle also
supplies high-performance organic
pigments and it expanded its portfolio
towards the end of last year with the
launch of two new pigments –
Lysopac Red 2230C and Lysopac
2 APRIL 2012
ON PIGMENTS
Red 7730C. Lysopac Red 2230C is a
clean shade of magenta (CI Pigment
Red 122), based on quinacridone.
Lysopac Red 7730C is a transparent
blue-shade red pigment (CI Pigment
Red 177), based on anthraquinone.
Both pigments offer good light- and
weather-fastness. Protec System-
pasten (of Herdecke, Germany)
recently added two new groups of
organic red pigments to its DecoTint
Premium W series of water-based
tinting pastes for house paints,
creating brilliant red tints beyond the
full-shade range. Pigments of the
perylene class achieve levels of light-
and weather-fastness even in crimson
tints. The quinacridone class
generates red tints covering the whole
spectrum from flame red to blue-
tinged purple. The new Protec
products are: DecoTint Premium W
Scarlet 257 RY (CI Pigment Red 168),
DecoTint Premium W Dark Red 277
RB (CI Pigment Red 179) and
DecoTint Premium W Red 297 RB (CI
Pigment Violet 19).
In the world of inorganic pigments,
Heubach (headquartered at
Langelsheim, Germany) last year
added to its range of bismuth vanadate
pigments with the launch of Vanadur
1030, a non-encapsulated grade that
offers a slightly redder shade than
Vanadur 1010. Both products offer
excellent opacity, good tinting strength,
high gloss and outstanding weather-
and light-fastness. Nubiola (of
Barcelona, Spain) last year launched
the heat-resistant yellow iron oxide
Nubifer Y-7050, mainly intended for use
in plastics and heat-sensitive coatings.
BASF Pigments (now head-
quartered in Hong Kong) last year
introduced several new pigments
intended for use in automotive paints.
Paliocrom Brilliant Gold allows the
creation of eye-catching effects
thanks to its high chroma and
lightness. Paliocrom Brilliant Lumina
Royal Blue is a red-shade blue
interference pigment with improved
colour strength, brightness, brilliance
and chroma. Heliogen Blue L-6600 is
a Pigment Blue 15:6 copper
phthalocyanine blue pigment. As a
member of the ‘neutral flop’ blue
series, this pigment permits styling
trends with limited colour change
when viewed from various angles.
Several companies launched new
infrared-reflecting pigments last year.
Eckart (of Hartenstein, Germany)
launched the IReflex pigment, which
is added as powder or concentrate to
transparent interior building paint and
then applied to the building walls and
ceilings with brush or roller. Using this
pigment affects the walls and ceilings
so that they barely absorb heat
(including body heat) but instead they
reflect it back into the room. This
infrared-reflecting property remains
active even in tinted paints. A study
carried out in collaboration with
Bauhaus University (of Weimar)
showed an energy saving potential in
the region of 16-22% when using this
pigment. The energy saving is
dependent on the wall construction of
each building: the worse the insulation
the higher the expected energy
saving. Heubach extended its range
of infrared-reflecting pigments with the
introduction of Heucodur IR 945,
bridging the gap between its existing
Heucodur 940 and Heucodur 950
products. Also last year, PPG
Coatings Deutschland (based in
Bochum) launched the new exterior
coating Sigma Siloxan Ultra-Cool,
which prevents the facades of
buildings from heating up excessively.
The paint contains specially
developed pigment pastes, which
prevent the ready-mixed façade paint
from turning the infrared sunlight into
heat.
Reg Adams
MARKETS
TiO2 prices raised to cover costs
despite buyers’ resistance
According to data published by the US
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the
average price paid by US customers
for TiO2 pigment increased by 75%
from $1.07 per pound in January 2009
to $1.87 per pound in January 2012.
This rapid escalation over the past
three years contrasts against the
relatively gentle oscillation in prices
within the range $1.00-1.20 per pound
over most of the previous 14 years.
Some observers have likened the
recent escalation in prices to the
scenario that played out during the
late 1980s, but in truth it is much
worse – from the customer’s point of
view – this time round. The average
price paid in the US rose by just under