MARKETS
More Capacity Coming for Titanium Dioxide Present capacity exceeds demand and competition from overseas is increasing, but producers see steady growth The titanium dioxide industry is boosting capacity once again. Pro ducers, present and potential, are actively planning new plants and ex pansions, despite the fact that produc tion is still struggling to catch up with existing capacity. Last year, typically following the business cycle, titanium dioxide pro duction slipped from 1959's record of 506,000 tons to 455.000 tons. Throughout the first half of this year, output barely kept pace with last year's performance, but indications arc that in the last six months of 1961, titanium dioxide will fare much better. An active last half should bring over all 1961 output to the 495,000-ton mark, just short of 1959's record but far short of the industry's 644,000-ton capacity. Despite this, titanium di oxide producers are planning to add still more capacity. Du Pont is expanding its plant at New Johnsonville, Tenn., where it uses a chloride, rather than a sulfate, proc ess. The expansion, which will take
place in stages, should jump capacity from 45,000 tons to 58,500 tons in 1962. Newcomer American Potash & Chemical is teaming up with old-hand Laporte Titanium, London, England, to build a 25,000 ton-per-year plant on the West Coast. It, too, should be completed in late 1962. Du Pont is also eying the growing West Coast market, is studying the possibilities of building a plant there. Godfrey Cabot Corp., Boston, is considering plans to build a titanium dioxide plant, possibly in Ohio. Cabot is working on a flame chloride process, similar to Du Pout's. It has a license from the French Fabrique de Produits Chimiques, which has a basic patent position on a chloride process. Cabot, which also has a helpful background in silicon tetrachloride, is still in the development stage, but a spokesman says "the die is cast." Still another producer has expan sion plans under consideration but says it's too earlv to talk about them.
Titanium Dioxide Output Likely to Resume Growth This Year
c
j
Why this expansion furor when ca pacity still has a comfortable cushion over demand? Two reasons are heard and both are probably valid. One is expected growth. Titanium dioxide is closely tied to the over-all economy because it goes into so many con sumer-oriented products (paints for houses and cars, rubber, plastics, floor coverings, roofing, and paper). Con sequently, producers see a market for 520,000 tons next year. This should grow steadily to 600,000 tons by 1965 and spill over the 700,000-ton mark by 1970. And lying dormant are poten tial uses which, if realized, will make the most optimistic estimates seem conservative. Another reason is a deathly fear of inadequate supplies. Producers re member well the tight supply picture of 1955 and 1956, and some are still trying to win back lost customers. Domestic Market Holds the Key. But if titanium dioxide companies are to carve out new gains, they will have to chip away at the home market.
U.S. Titanium Dioxide Capacity Will Approach 700,000 Tons a Year by the End of 1962
Production (Thousands of Tons)
Annual Capacity (Thousands of Tons,
700
100% Ti02 Location
600 500
·-—•
400-
National Lead (Titanium Pigment Corp.)
Sayreville, N J . St. Louis, Mo.
Du Pont
Baltimore, Md. Edge Moor, Del. New Johnsonville, Tenn.
55 85 58
American Cyanamid
Savannah, Ga. Piney River, Va.
72 18
300 200 100il
1 I '56
I I '58
1 1 I '60
I
'62
Source: Bureau of Mines, C&EN estimates
34
C&EN
Ν η ν. 20, 1 9 6 1
'64
'66
'68
167 108
Glidden
Hawkins Point, Md.
48
New Jersey Zinc
Gloucester City, N.J.
46
American Potash-Laporte Mojave, Calif.
1 I
Basis)
70 Source:
C&EN estimates
25 682
Titanium Dioxide Goes into These Products Paints, lacquers, and varnishes Paper Floor coverings Rubber Coated fabrics and textiles Printing ink Other
58.5% 14.6 6.2 4.9 3.5 1.7 10.6
100.0 Source:
Bureau of Mines
Reason: Not only are imports, though still small, increasing but exports are rapidly decreasing. Imports, which amounted to almost nothing as recently as 1957, hit 6100 tons last year (they were only 2800 tons in 1959). And exports of the dioxide and pigments have plummeted from a high of 64,800 tons in 1956 to under 34,000 tons in 1960. Behind this trend is an expansion spree throughout the Free World which will push total capacity from slightly over 1 million tons to about 1.5 million tons in a few years. Typi cal is Canada, our prime export tar get, where annual capacity will bal loon from its present 18,000 tons to 47,000 tons if announced plans are completed. Europe expects to add 217,000 tons to its 340,500-ton ca
pacity, and Asian capacity will ex pand from 67,200 tons to 97,470 tons. Japan alone accounts for 64,000 tons of Asia's total, and it will put an additional 25,000 tons on stream by the end of next year. That country's production soared from 25,000 tons in 1956 to 54,000 tons last year and over 40ΓΛ of it was exported. A lot of Japanese material finds its way to the West Coast. But U.S. pro ducers with West Coast ambitions think they can combat it on a quality basis. Not so easy to fight will be the other American producers, who indicate that they will be able to meet any price advantage (the result of freight differences, about r/2 cent per pound) which West Coast producers might offer. Growing Demand Will Help. Come what may, domestic producers will go all out to protect their sizable in vestment (about $300,000 per ton of daily capacity). And they have work ing for them a growth market and a product with little competition. In the paint industry, which uses over half of the titanium dioxide pro duced, titanium pigments have vir tually knocked white lead, lithopone, and leaded zinc oxides out of conten tion. The main advantage of titanium dioxide is its excellent hiding power (115 and 147 square feet per pound, respectively, for the anatase and rutile forms, compared to 27 square feet for ordinary lithopone and 20 square feet for zinc oxide).
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Technetium-99: A useful research tool for corrosion inhibitor studies and prep a r a t i o n of special alloys. Oak Ridge National Laboratory also offers more than 300 radioactive and stable isotope products.
RADIOISOTOPES Processed Solutions —90 processed ra dioisotopes may be obtained, including many carrier-free and high specific activ ity products. Now Available—Scandium-46 at $0.20 per millicurie; 1-131 at $0.40 per m a ; tech netium (as element or ammonium pertechnetate) $100 a gram; calcium-47, with less than 5% Ca-45, $200 per mc.
STABLE ISOTOPES More than 200 stable isotopes available from 50 elements Chemical processing and target fabrication services also of fered. . . . Ultra-high isotopic purity in a number of isotopes. For a catalog or information concerning your special isotope requirements, write t o : I s o t o p e s D i v i s i o n , Oak R i d g e N a t i o n a l Laboratory, P. O. Box X , Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
OAK RIDGE N A T I O N A L LABORATORY Operated by UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION for the U.S. ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION
PAPER PROSPECTS BRIGHT. Titanium dioxide coatings for papers are dried under infrared lights during evaluation of hiding power and opaqueness at Du Pont
NOV. 2 0, 1 9 6 1 C&EN
35
Need a really accurate model?
New Cenco-Petersen MOLECULAR MODELS can be quickly hand assembled without special tools for three-dimensional study of stereochemical and conformational factors and reaction mechanisms. Designed to overcome many shortcomings of earlier model systems, they • are made up of accurate bond lengths ( 1 A = 5 cm). • present precise angles of distortion (to 30°). • can be locked or left free to rotate under stress. • return perfectly to a preset angle. The stereochemist can now directly predict inter atomic distances and bond angle distortion using these true-to-scale models. Polyvalent atoms are colored neoprene balls with threaded aluminum inserts placed at the theoretical bond angles. Monovalent atoms are polystyrene with the appropriate bond permanently attached. The bonds themselves may be disassembled and rebuilt with other lengths to provide different scale factors.
BRIEFS
The complete N o . 71306 C e n c o - P e t e r s e n Set contains 55 monovalent a t o m s , 59 p o l y v a l e n t atoms, 70 bonds and fittings plus extra parts, all in a partitioned metal case. Send for Booklet 315 for detailed informa tion. $295.00
ι: i1 m: H 36
C&EN
NOV.
2 0,
1961
CENTRAL
Paint should continue to increase its call on titanium pigments because of an apparent trend toward lighter colors and the growth of water-based latex paints. These paints hold less pigment than oil-based paints, and re quire more active titanium dioxide to get hiding power. Paper, which takes about 157c of titanium dioxide output, probably has the best growth potential on a percent age basis. Because of rising postal rates, weight is a critical factor and paper users are striving to reduce weight to a minimum. Five years ago, paper weighed an average of 50 pounds per ream; now it is down to 40 pounds. Titanium dioxide comes into the picture because it acts as an opacifier, making it possible to use thinner sheets of paper. Many maga zines, however, do not yet use titanium-pigmented paper and should the majority of them ever switch, it could mean a boom for pigment pro ducers. But the cost-conscious paper industry will do all it can to avoid adding a costly pigment to its product. Less titanium pigment is now going into rubber tires because the width of whitewalls is declining. Taking up the slack, however, is growing de mand for pigments in plastics, par ticularly for such uses as wrappings, packaging, squeeze bottles, tableware, and toys. About the only thing steady on the titanium dioxide scene is price, which has held since 1957 at 26 cents a pound For anatase grades and 28 cents for rutile (in quantities of over five tons). And even this has gone through minor adjustments recently. In June, for example, buyers of more than 15 tons were granted a λ / · 2 cent discount and in September an addi tional 1 / 2 cent was scratched for pur chasers of 30 tons or more.
Union
SCIENTIFIC
A Division of Cenco Instruments Corporation 1710 Irving Park Road · Chicago 1 3 , Illinois Mountainside, N. j. Montreal Santa Clara Somerville, Mass. Toronto Los Angeles Birmingham, Ala. Ottawa Vancouver Houston Cenco S.A., Breda, The Netherlands Tulsa
Carbide
Chemicals
has
cut
prices of its Dynel modacrylic fibers by as much as 3 6 7 . The cuts affect seven grades of fiber. The new price of regular staple fiber and tow in 3 and 6 denier is 75 cents a pound, down from $1.10. Fiber and tow in 24 denier is reduced to 75 cents from $1.05, and 12 denier fiber used for rugs and paint rollers goes to 70 cents from $1.10. Prices of dope-dyed high bulk fibers, carpet fiber, and filament yarns are unchanged.
