km southwest of Birmingham city-centre in the English Midlands) and itmarkets these products under thebrandnames Calofort and Multifex-MM.

Towards the end of last year, MTIreported that it had commissioned asecond PCC plant at the Thatoompaper mill (160 km east of Bangkok,Thailand) owned by Double A (1991)Public Co Ltd. This plant has acapacity of 80,000 tonnes/y. Double Aalso signed an agreement to employMTI’s Fulfill E-325 technology suite atits paper mills in Thailand, which aremainly based on eucalyptus pulp.

Original Source: Minerals Technologies Inc, 38thFloor, 622 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA,website: http://www.mineralstech.com (22 Jul & 7Aug 2013) © MTI 2013

China: Shanghai Xiner – plasticsmasterbatch

Shanghai Xiner Low-CarbonEnvironmental Co Ltd is said to beone of China’s leading producers ofplastic masterbatches. One of thehighlights of the ChinaPlas Exhibition(20-23 May 2013) was the news thatthis company has recently begunusing Vistamaxx 6102 and 6202propylene-based elastomers toimprove the quality of itsmasterbatches filled with calciumcarbonate, at the same time asreducing costs. Vistamaxx elastomersare supplied by ExxonMobil.

Like other masterbatch companies,Shanghai Xiner is keen to reduce theamount of plasticiser and otheradditives, without sacrificingperformance. It is also keen to cutdown on the amount of dust in theworkplace environment and it facesthe problem that existing polypropy-lene or polyethylene polymer carriershave limited acceptance for calciumcarbonate fillers. Challenges facingend-users include the relatively lowlet-down ratio of only 20-30%, whichlimits plastic substitution and costreduction. Other application-specificrequirements include demands forbetter tensile and impact strength infilm-grade material so that plasticbags will not break when overloaded.There is also a pressing need forstronger yarns for woven bags andnon-woven fabrics, which must notbreak at higher line speeds. Also,customers have a need for improvedimpact strength in rigid packaging, sothat there will be less breakage of

blow-moulded containers and similarproducts.

Vistamaxx elastomers are made ofunique semi-crystalline copolymers ofpropylene and ethylene, offering highload ratios for fillers and gooddispersion. Plastic compoundproperties, such as toughness,flexibility and clarity, can be tailored,enhanced and balanced to meetspecific customer requirements.Typical filler masterbatches arecomposed of 15% carrier polymer(polyolefin) and 85% CaCO3. Adding5% of Vistamaxx to partially replacethe carrier polymer means that theCaCO3 loading level can be increasedby at least 5%. In turn, this allows thecompounder to reduce the number ofadditives, which could bloom to partthe surface and lead to poor productperformance.

Shanghai Xiner stated that itobserved better dispersion usingVistamaxx as the polymer carriercompared to an LLDPE carrier at a2.0% loading level when extruded intocast film to make raffia tape. The lowmelt-temperature of Vistamaxx 6202allowed for a lower mixing temp-erature during the masterbatchcompounding process, resulting inreduced energy consumption. MrZigang Wang (President) said:“Working with ExxonMobil Chemical ishelping us fulfill our goals of beingmore competitive with regard to end-product performance and reducingcosts. Energy consumption during ourmanufacturing process has beenreduced, and our sales volumes haverisen at 20% per annum.”

Original Source: ExxonMobil Chemical, 13501 KatyFreeway, Houston, TX 77079-1398, USA, website:https://www.exxonmobilchemical.com (25 Apr 2013)© ExxonMobil Chemical 2013

India: Clariant – masterbatch & azopigments

Clariant plans to relocate itsmasterbatch plant at Thane-Kolshet(25 km northeast of Mumbai),probably to its Roha complex (120 kmsouth of Mumbai), though a site inGujarat province is also underconsideration. The Kolshet site coversabout 32 hectares, but it is nowincreasingly surrounded by residentialareas. Clariant intends to sell the siteonce the masterbatch plant has beenmoved. The industrial real estatecompany, Ambit, has been appointed

to handle the sale, which is expectedto raise about Rup 15-16 bn(equivalent to $250-270 M). Meanwhile,Clariant recently confirmed itscommitment to a 50% expansion of itsazo pigment facilities at Roha. (Seealso ‘Focus on Pigments’, Jun 2013, 6).

Original Source: Chimie Pharma Hebdo, 22 Jul 2013,(642), (Website: http://www.industrie.com/chimie/) (in French) © ETAI Information 2013

India: Giriraj – lead monoxide

Giriraj Specialty Ltd, an affiliate of theGiriraj trading conglomerate(headquartered in Mumbai) recentlycommissioned a new state-of-the-artlead monoxide (litharge) plant atManjusar (20 km north ofVadodara/Baroda, Gujarat province).Details of capacity and the scale ofinvestment in this project have notbeen disclosed, but the company hasdeclared that it is already working onexpansion plans. The mainapplications for the litharge output arein the manufacture of pigments,ceramics and plastic additives.

Original Source: Chemical Weekly, 2 Jul 2013, 152(Website: http://www.chemicalweekly.com/) © SevakPublications & Chemical Weekly Database P Ltd 2013

Singapore: Ishihara – TiO2

Giving three weeks advancenotification, Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha(ISK, headquartered in Osaka)declared that it would shut down its54,000 tonnes/y chloride-route TiO2pigment plant in the southwesterncorner of Singapore at the end ofAugust 2013. The plant was built on a19.2 hectares site on Tuas WestDrive, Jurong, and it came on-streamin February 1989, with an initialcapacity of 36,000 tonnes/y. It wasdesigned by Ishihara’s ownengineers, drawing on experiencegained at the Yokkaichi (Japan) plantover the previous 17 years.Technology licensed from Kerr-McGee (now Tronox) had beenemployed at the Yokkaichi plant andIshihara was obliged to pay royaltiesto Tronox, based on output both atYokkaichi and at Jurong. The capacityat Jurong was stepped up to 45,000tonnes/y in 1994 and it was steppedup again in 2006 to the current levelof 54,000 tonnes/y. Most of the plant’spigment exports are channelled toSoutheast Asia, though ISK

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