HUNTSMAN PIGMENTS “CHANGES THE RULES FOR USING TITANIUM DIOXIDE POWDER”

Huntsman Pigments is coming to K 2007 with a revolutionary low dust titanium dioxide pigment that has handling properties far superior to any TiO2 currently available for plastics compounders.

The pigment, marketed under the DELTIO™ brand, has already been trialed extensively at a major masterbatch producer. Delta Plast in Sweden, part of the A. Schulman group, says DELTIO™5X pigment enables increased outputs by over 20 percent.

U.K.-based Huntsman Pigments says their new DELTIO™ pigment provides extra added-value for users through its exceptional powder handling and low dust properties. “Customers have been asking us for more precision in metering, ability to clean equipment faster at product changeovers, and the need to improve the working environment for employees,” says global marketing director Rob Portsmouth. “We believe DELTIO™ pigment meets all of those requirements. This is a change in the titanium dioxide industry. We’ve got a product now that really flows notably better than anything else on the market.”

Rob is backed up by Åke Berg, CEO at Delta Plast: “Titanium dioxide is the basis for almost all the formulations we have. DELTIO™ is what we are basing our future progress around. Low dust and high capacity products, it’s the future.”

Huntsman Pigments developed a quantitative test to compare the levels of dust that different pigment products make when they are poured. A standard weight of each pigment is dropped into a cabinet measuring the light attenuation associated with the density and duration of the airborne particulates generated. Compared to a conventional TiO2 pigment, the dust created by DELTIO™ pigment is much less dense and it settles much faster.

A major advantage of the new pigment is the lack of stickiness and self-binding typical of conventional titanium dioxide pigments. How a pigment product reacts to compaction in a silo is a vital handling consideration. A conventional pigment congeals and cakes, making it difficult to extract and transfer. DELTIO™ pigment maintains its free-flowing powder properties.

“Our customer’s process is transformed with DELTIO™ pigment,” says Isabel Miles, Huntsman Pigments’ technical service and development manager. “They have literally been having to hammer the silos to get the powder to come through or forever having the line stop because there is a blockage somewhere. That just disappears. DELTIO™ pigment completely changes the rules for using titanium dioxide powder.”

During compounding, the smooth and clean flow of the new pigment virtually eliminates the bridging and residue build-up seen on the screw and hopper walls with conventional pigment, increasing mass transfer rate and, critically, mass transfer consistency.

Variability too, can lead to quality control problems with finished products. Whereas a conventional pigment has a +/- 50 percent variation in average mass transfer rate, variation with DELTIO™ pigment is no more than +/- 10 percent. Marcus Persson, production manager at Delta Plast, says: “DELTIO™ increases our capacity by around 20 to 25 percent. It’s more free-flowing in the hopper, it’s easier for the machine to take in the material and actually extrude it.”

Huntsman has succeeded in achieving these significant improvements without compromising the outstanding optical properties of TiO2. “We have a range of classic TIOXIDE® pigment products that offer customers very high whiteness, brightness and opacity,” says Rob Portsmouth. “DELTIO™5X pigment offers all of those benefits, and also flows remarkably well.”

This is no mean feat: “It’s quite a trick to get a combination of both free flow and dispersion in the same pigment, says Huntsman Pigments R&D manager Tony Jones. “Those things tend to be mutually exclusive. The outstanding chemical and physical properties of TiO2 pigments are absolutely paramount; you can’t afford to compromise those at all.”

DELTIO™ pigments will have a selling price slightly higher than Huntsman’s classic TIOXIDE® TiO2 pigments, which it will continue to supply. But the company believes customers will quickly see the benefits of the new product. “What’s really important for the customer is not the cost of the pigment, it’s the cost of the benefit they bring to their customers,” says Miles. “If we can reduce their overall manufacturing costs even by having a slightly more expensive pigment, they’ll appreciate that.”

Delta Plast also emphasizes the value of the improvement in the working environment. “Even if it costs a little bit more, we would go for DELTIO™ due to the dust level,” says Alf Jensen, the company’s operations manager and group purchasing manager.

Scott Wright, customer solutions manager at Huntsman Pigments, sums it up. Noting that customers have been able to use DELTIO™ pigment interchangeably with existing products in the market, he adds: “They have observed some tremendous benefits in terms of processing, cleanliness of the working environment and the amount of time their operators can spend doing value-adding activities and not trouble shooting problems that arise from using TiO2.”

DELTIO™ is a trademark of Huntsman Corporation.

TIOXIDE® is a registered trade mark of Huntsman Corporation.

Reader enquiries

Huntsman Pigments
Haverton Hill Road
TS23 1PS, BILLINGHAM
United Kingdom

+44 164 237 6792

www.huntsman.com/pigments