This is particularly the case with
research-based speciality chemical companies who are well established in the development and production of dispersions.
They are the ones with the expertise in
key field like polymers, rheology and surface technologies.
As they extend the range of their activities, a major dilemma for dispersion
companies is how they avoid becoming
competitors with their own customers because what they provide can be close to
being complete coatings products.
However, they have little choice but
to shift downstream. They themselves
are facing competition from new entrants into their market for dispersion
and dispersion additives which is looking
increasingly attractive because of its relatively high growth rates.
“The global coatings and printing inks
markets in general, and particularly of
waterborne and high solids solvent based
systems are growing with above-average
speed,” said Stefan Silber, senior vice-president and general manager for coating additives at German-based Evonik
Industries AG, one of Europe’s leading
dispersants producers.
In response to this strong growth, dispersion companies have been broadening
their portfolios to meet the major trends
in the European and global markets.
These include the need for greater pigment stability and higher color yields, low
emissions of volatile organic compounds,
and reduction in production costs such as
for milling.
Companies want strong positions
in pigment and colorant dispersion,
as was reflected in the recent merger in the tinting sector of Chromaflo
Technologies, Ashtabula, Ohio and CPS
Color Colorants of Finland. This initiative in vertical integration brings together
Chromaflo’s expertise in pigment and
chemical dispersions with CPS’s know-how in colorants for architectural and
industrial coatings.
“We see a clear trend to rationalization in coatings manufacture with more
and more customers working with tinting or full mixing processes,” said Silber.
“These put very high demands on disper-
sion results, pigment stabilization and
compatibility. Our portfolio of cutting-
edge dispersants for all technologies and
pigments fits very well to this trend.”
Evonik is close to completing the
building of a new polymer dispersants
plant at Essen, Germany, which will tri-
ple its global capacity for the products.
The dispersants from the unit, sched-
uled to start up in the first quarter of
next year, increase color intensity and
colorant yield, while their viscosity-
lowering effect lowers production costs
by maximizing pigment concentration
during dispersion.
Many of the company’s wetting and
dispersant additives, sold under the Tego
Dispers label, can be applied to both
waterborne and solvent coatings as well
both organic and inorganic pigments.
Altana, another German-based speciality chemicals company with a large
business in disperants, effect pigments
and other coatings raw materials, which
last year took over Rockwood Holdings’
rheology additives operation, has developed a pigment stabilizer for use in aqueous and solventborne system.
The technology, which has won the
company’s annual innovation award, is
comprised of a comb copolymer which
enables this ‘universal’ application to be
made through a single additive.
Arkema, a French-based international
speciality chemicals company, has developed a pigment dispersion technology,
called Bumper, to meet the demand for
additives to lower the titanium dioxide
(TiO2) content of coatings. The technology can also be used to make dispersions
for TiO2 alternatives like zinc oxide and
barium sulphate.
“Bumper is a very efficient spacer
technology for inorganic pigments like
TiO2,”explained Fabienne Drouel, mar-
keting communications manager at
Arkema’s Coatex coating additives busi-
ness. “It has helped curb costs when
TiO2 has been expensive. That is not the
case so much today because TiO2 prices
have weakened so we’ve been looking at
ways to use the technology to add value
to other kinds of pigments.”
BASF, the world’s largest chemicals
company, is able to exploit its production
of a wide range of raw material to run
both a coatings operation and a separate
business for dispersion and pigments. It
has been able, for example, to concen-
trate on developing solutions for energy-
curable coatings along much of the value
chain-- from speciality monomers, bind-
ers through to UV-curable dispersions.
The R&D resources of SMEs are, on
the other hand, becoming stretched as
they endeavour to satisfy the demand
among customers, particularly in the industrial and protective coatings market,
for individualized products. These usually have to be produced in small quantities based on one-off formulations
developed in house rather than on standardised systems from outside.
“SMEs are wanting to take full ad-
vantage of their flexibility by being able
to provide customized products in small
batches,” explained Felipe Wolff-Fabris,
business unit manager of the European
Centre for Dispersion Technologies, Selb,
Germany. “A lot of the larger coatings
and dispersion producers tend to have to
provide standardised products because
they do not want to change processes just
to make a batch of a few tons,”
The European Centre for Dispersion
Technologies, which opened earlier this
year as a research and technology trans-
fer institution, is run by SKZ, a German
research and quality assurance services
company with help from funds from the
German government.
It provides assistance to companies,
mainly SMEs in coatings, plastics, nanocomposites and other sectors, in areas
like development of materials, processes
and analytical methods.
“Coatings and other companies now
have a much greater choice of disper-
sion agents to develop their own for-
mulations,” said Wolff-Fabris. “But
developing formulations for small batch-
es is expensive both financially and in
the use of resources. SMEs in particular
need support which is why we’ve set up
this centre.”
The setting-up of the center, which
was suggested by the coatings and other
formulation industries, highlights the ex-
tent of innovation in dispersions taking
place at all levels of the coatings sector
in Europe. CW
