Millennium mulls new TiO2 capacity rise at Thann, France
07 February 2002 15:52 [Source: ICIS news]
PARIS (CNI)--Millennium Chemicals is considering a further
10-20% increase in capacity at its ultra fine titanium dioxide
(TiO2) facility in Thann, France, the US-based company
disclosed here on Thursday.
It has just raised ultra fine TiO2 capacity to 10 000
tonne/year from 3400 tonne under a $10m (Euro11.6m) investment
programme. The investment is part of its strategy of moving
downstream into the high value, high margin nano-particle
TiO2 sector and relying less on bulk commodity
TiO2. Ultra fine particles are defined as being in the
range 1-150 nanometers.
Millennium is one of the world’s largest producers of
TiO2, a white pigment used in coatings, paints,
plastics, paper and other applications. Its total TiO2
capacity is 690 000 tonne/year.
The possible further expansion at Thann, a facility it acquired
from France's Rhone-Poulenc in 1998, is due to exceptional customer
demand, according to Millennium.
It aims to work with customers in the ultra-fine TiO2
sector to develop areas such as selective catalytic reduction,
Claus catalysts and photo catalysts for cleaning air and water and
for use in self-cleaning surfaces.
The expansion at Thann includes a production unit for scale-up
and testing of ultra fine TiO2 products, which may be
used in applications like UV (ultra-violet) blockers, colour
pigment precursors and electro-ceramics.
Millennium performance chemicals division currently has world
sales of $100m (Euro116m) per year and plans to double that by
2005.
"The expansion at Thann makes us the number one supplier in the
market for ultra fine TiO2 with a share of 35-40%," Jack
Von Ohlen vice president performance chemicals at Millennium
chemicals told CNI.
Other key players in the market include Kerr-McGee and the
Japanese companies Ishihara and Tayca.
ICIS Copyright © Reed Business Information 2009
Author: Alan Tyler+44 20 8652 3214
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