New sheen for next-gen automotive

Fast paced developments in the automotive industry demands a new outlook for pigments and coatings market.

By Debarati Das

Its not just the speed and the throttle that determines the X-factor of a car, but also the sheen, the shine and the gloss that ups the oomph of these automobiles. And hence, the right pigment for that perfect coating determines the market success of the whole package.

According to a report by Grand View Research, the global automotive coatings market is expected to reach $36.31 billion by 2025 owing to the increasing vehicle production. The right coating not just enhances the appearance and durability of automobiles but also provides protection from harsh environmental conditions including acid rain, extreme temperature, UV radiations and dust particles.

Reports suggest that while Europe is expected to witness steady growth, the major demand for this market is expected to arise from the emerging countries including China, India, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea, and South Africa which is becoming the next big automotive market due to population growth and rising income levels in this region. Many companies are taking this opportunity to expand and strengthen their hold in these regions.

Axalta Coating Systems expanded their activities in China and India lately by installing additional capacity in India to supply OEMs and expanding their waterborne facility in China to meet customers’ requirements for reduced VOC emissions.

“These facilities and the significant investments made in the past couple of years are in sync with Axalta’s strong commitment to this region to deliver innovative and comprehensive coating solutions to our customers in every sector of the automotive market and in other industry sectors,” said Charlie Shaver, chairman and CEO, Axalta.

Read more: New sheen for next-gen automotive

Enriching the Indian soil

In an interview, Dr. Rajiv Kumar Gupta (IAS), Managing Director, Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd (GNFC), with Chemical Today Magazine delves into the ways in which India’s fertilizer industry is meeting the growing demands of the country with innovation and technology.”

By Shivani Mody

Trends in Indian fertilizers market. 

India is the second largest consumer of chemical fertilizers in the world. The annual growth rate of fertilizer production in India since FY 13 is 4 percent at a compounded annual rate. Given that the food demand is only likely to increase in India and available cultivable land being limited, it is only possible that the demand for fertilizer is also going to increase.

India’s requirement of major fertilizers like Urea, DAP, and MOP stands at roughly 300 Lakhs MT, 90 Lakhs MT and 60 Lakhs MT respectively against the domestic production of approximately, 250 lakhs MT, 40 to 45 Lakhs MT of Urea and DAP respectively. There is no domestic production of MOP as of now. It is evident that the mismatch between demand and supply is significant.

The current Indian government’s fertilizer policy is expected to reduce dependency on imports of fertilizers, in turn promoting the indigenous production and giving a thrust to Make in India program. In view of this, the Indian fertilizer sector has ‘tremendous’ potential for growth, in the coming years. On the other hand, 100 percent neem coating of urea and introduction of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) has also improved efficiency of urea application and better availability of fertilizers to farmers.

Corresponding scenario of the chemicals market

Indian Chemical Sector is worth nearly $150-155 billion at present and is growing at 9-10 percent annually. It is expected to double its size to $300 billion by 2025. The manufacturing sector has a dependency on the chemical industry for its growth and increase in manufacturing activity will automatically lead to higher demand for chemicals.

Read more: Enriching the Indian soil

Adding colors to technology

In an interview, Sambit Roy, Regional Business Head-Pigment, India Region, Clariant with Chemical Today Magazine discusses the opportunities that the inks & pigments industry has in the fast-growing Indian economy.

By Shivani Mody

Trends in inks & pigments industry on a global level.

The global pigments market size was valued at $32.7 billion in 2015 and is expected to garner $43.03 billion by 2022, registering a CAGR of 4% during the forecast period 2022. The market is expected to be driven by the growing demand in Asia-Pacific and rapidly increasing demand from existing applications.

The global printing inks market is expected to reach over US$25 billion by 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 4.6% from 2017 to 2025. On the basis of geography, the Asia-Pacific region currently represents the largest market accounting for around one-third of the total global consumption. The increasing demand can be directly attributed to the developing economies of Asia-Pacific and South America which are witnessing rapid urbanization. Due to the change in trends, the traditional, family owned sheet-fed ink companies that were once numerous have now declined in number along with the small sheet-fed printers. Over the past couple of years, the market has been mainly driven by advancements in technology and processes such as ink-jet products and digital printing.

As the sector continues to grow, various strategies have been adopted by leading players in the industry to achieve additional market share which include new product launches, joint ventures, acquisition, partnership, expansion and investments. In the past few years, the consumption of printing inks has increased due to the growth in publishing, packaging industries and Inkjet Printing. Other factors like affordability, constant innovations and popularity of environment-friendly inks are also encouraging the growth of the global ink market. Additionally, companies are continuously investing in R&D to come up with unique and customized applications for their customers.  With a strong backing and a high demand from key end user segments, the ink and pigment market is expected to maintain its current healthy trend for a number of years to come.

Advancement in colourants demand.

The landscape for colourants is fast changing as technology and global economics have exerted pressure on the industry to continuously evolve and innovate. It has therefore become imperative for colourant companies to keep with up the current and emerging trends that are set to change the industry in the future. The colourant market is driven by a number of factors like increasing demand from high performance pigments application, recent developments in end-user industries and rising inclination towards environment-friendly products. The major driving factors for the colourant markets is the growth in the end-user industries, increase in per capita consumption of textiles, enhanced standard of living and rising demand for environmental-friendly products. Colourant companies are building and maintaining production and laboratory facilities at a global scale to keep up to the demands of the ever increasing global customers.

The printing ink industry is moving on from traditional toluene and ketone based inks to non-toulene and non-ketone (NTNK) systems. The demand for UV/EB curable inks is also increasing at a faster pace. The evolution and expansion of color space with IR reflective technologies also continues to gain momentum. Moreover, the transition from traditional to modern methods is bound to change the trends in the ink and pigment sector in the coming years. As the manufacturers get to know about the benefits of newer technologies, everyday life can become better and certainly more colorful for end users and consumers.

Fast growing sectors in Asia Pacific.

The global pigments market is expected to reach revenues of $39 billion USD by 2020, largely due to extraordinary growth in the Asia-Pacific regions. The APAC region accounts for nearly half of the global consumption of pigments and is expected to increase its share in the market even further. There has been a significant demand for products like titanium dioxide which is currently dominating the pigment market, given its widespread use in paints, varnishes and the processing of plastics. This has resulted in a greater demand for higher quality and more consistent pigments which are both color stable and viscosity stable, compatible with a wide range of resin systems and print on a wide variety of substrates. Printing inks are set to develop in a more dynamic way due to the growing market for printed packaging. With a robust demand in the printing ink sector, the market is projected to register steady growth in the coming years. There has been a significant increase in water and solvent-based packaging inks in the recent years and the trend in the packaging ink market segment is moving towards functional and sensory packaging. A substantial demand in alternative ink types such as UV and EB inks has greater demand on pigment properties such as viscosity stability and compatibility.

Read more: Adding colors to technology

Changing colours with changing times

In an interview, Jeff Okaichi, Director and Vice President, Toyocolor Co Ltd (Toyo Ink Group company), with Chemical Today Magazine focuses on the growing dynamics of the inks and pigments industry due to wider application range and need for innovative ink and pigment solutions.

By Shivani Mody

Global trends in inks & pigments industry.

Increased global awareness with respect to food safety and reducing the impact of packaging on the environment has been driving the demand for packaging inks and materials with lower migration or enhanced eco-friendly characteristics. The demand for clean, sustainable pigments, including aqueous types and compositions free of VOCs, halogens and amines continues to grow. While our food packaging grade of organic pigments, resins and inks have been specially formulated to meet today’s strictest environmental requirements, we continuously focus on the development of high grade pigment technology that imparts the higher color stability and viscosity levels that will be required by the next-generation of inks, paints and coatings.

We continue to see growing interest in UV and digital printing markets which has been driving the demand for high quality pigment dispersions to help formulate inks and coatings for these applications. As such, the challenge for pigment manufacturers is to develop pigment formulations that can meet the varying quality requirements in terms of particle size and electrical conductivity. We expect to see new developments in UV- and inkjet-grade technology and their materials for high-speed commercial printing in years to come.

Advancement in colour demand for inks & pigments.

Toyocolor dispersion processing technology is used in carbon nanotubes and other next-generation inorganic materials to support the future evolution of color materials. As part of our growth strategy, we are working to develop innovative pigments that help manufacturers meet the functional and performance demands of advanced inks and coatings. Specifically, we will be working to develop and expand sales of products using unique pigments and nano-level dispersion technologies, including products with optical and insulation functions that are relatively new to the market.

Read more: Changing colours with changing times

Furuya Metal to enhance ruthenium refining capability

Furuya Metal Co Ltd said that it will invest in enhancing the ruthenium (Ru) refining capability of its Tsuchiura Plant (located at Sawabe in Tsuchiura City, Ibaraki).

Furuya Metal's Tsuchiura Plant has refining and recovery lines for high-purity ruthenium targets (thin film materials), catalysts, and other products, and is able to carry out high-purity refining within short time frames.

This capability-enhancement investment is in response to the growing demand, both within Japan as well as overseas, for high-purity ruthenium targets used in hard disks. The scale of the investment is 1.6 billion yen, with the first phase of 600 million yen planned to be invested by the end of December 2018. Through the first phase of investment, the refining and recovery capability for ruthenium will be increased by approximately one ton monthly, from the current 2.4 tons monthly to 3.5 tons monthly. This increases the annual capability by 12 tons.

Read more: Furuya Metal to enhance ruthenium refining capability

Shell to sell Draugen, Gjoa interests to Okea for $556 mn

Royal Dutch Shell plc, through its affiliate A/S Norske Shell, has reached an agreement with Okea AS to sell its entire 44.56 percent interest in Draugen and 12.00 percent interest in Gjoa in Norway for $556 million (NOK 4,520 million).

The transaction is expected to complete in Q4 2018.  The transaction’s expected effective date is 1 January 2018.  Upon completion, Okea will become the new operator of Draugen.

The decommissioning costs associated with the assets are currently estimated to be $120 million after-tax (NOK 1,000 million); Shell will retain 80 percent of this liability up to an agreed cap and Okea will assume the remaining liability.

The Shell share of the assets’ production amounted to approximately 25 kboe/d in 2017, representing about 14 percent of Shell’s Norwegian production in 2017.

On completion, Draugen staff onshore and offshore are expected to transfer to Okea with full continuity of service.

Read More: Shell to sell Draugen, Gjoa interests to Okea for $556 mn

Smart solutions for paint shop 4.0

The optimal link-up of flexible hardware with intelligent software, complemented with innovative digital services, maximizing customer benefits – with this in mind, the German painting plant manufacturer Eisenmann is tackling the challenges of the future. The aim is to build the “Paint Shop 4.0” for the automotive industry and other sectors.

How far the possibilities of digitization in surface treatment have developed in the meantime was shown to the visitors at several trade fairs with Eisenmann participation. Around 1,000 guests from 34 nations, mainly from the automotive industry, came to the Eisenmann Technology Days at the Technology Center in Holzgerlingen near Stuttgart to see the latest solutions for surface treatment in Industry 4.0. Innovations in the areas of engineering, application technology, paint shop solutions, service and production control systems were also in the spotlight at the PaintExpo in Karlsruhe and at the Hanover Fair.

Read more: Smart solutions for paint shop 4.0