PIGMENTS INORGANIC
A company with strong roots for a strong future History of the company s pigment activities LANXESS business activities have a long and well-established history. The company's roots actually go back to the year 1863, the year Bayer was founded. During a reorganization of Bayer AG in 2004, most of its chemical activities and around one third of its plastic activities were carved out and transferred to a newly established firm, LANXESS Deutschland GmbH. The parent company, LANXESS AG, was split off from Bayer AG in January 2005 and has since that time been listed on the stock market. LANXESS is headquartered in Germany and has branches in 18 countries around the world. Over 20,000 employees at 50 international production sites and agencies in all the key economic regions ensure that the company's business partners receive optimal support in the relevant markets. Production and sales are just as globally aligned as research and development. The LANXESS portfolio consists of basic, specialty and fine chemicals, rubber and rubber chemicals, and various plastics. The company is organized in four segments: Performance Chemicals, Chemical Intermediates, Engineering Plastics, and Performance Rubber, which are, in turn, subdivided into 17 Business Units. The IPG Business Unit (Inorganic Pigments Group) manages LANXESS s worldwide pigment activities and offers customized solutions for the coloring of such things as building materials, surface coatings, plastics, rubber and paper. Specialty products are used in the toner, ceramics and catalyst industries, for example, and also in water treatment. Natural inorganic pigments have been known since prehistoric times, as is proved by the cave paintings created around 30,000 years ago in southern France, southern Spain and northern Africa. In modern times, these natural iron oxides were unable either to meet the mounting demand or to satisfy increasingly stringent quality requirements, thus the production of synthetic iron oxide pigments was begun around 80 years ago. In 1877, the chemist Dr. Edmund ter Meer built a small factory for the production of synthetic dyes outside the gates of the town of Krefeld (Fig. 1). The factory was expanded in 1913 with a production plant for the raw material aniline, which plays an important role in dye production. In the manufacturing process used at that time, nitrobenzene was reacted with metallic iron to produce the desired aniline. In the course of the process, the iron is converted to iron oxide. Then, following a modification to the process in 1925, the chemists succeeded in turning this previously unusable iron oxide residue into a yellow or black iron oxide pigment with very high tinting strength. The year 1925 thus marked the beginning of the production of synthetic iron oxide pigments by the Laux process in Krefeld-Uerdingen. At that time, nobody would have guessed that this factory would become the world's largest production facility for synthetic iron oxide pigments (Fig. 2). A further milestone in the development of LANXESS's pigments business was the introduction of the brand name Bayferrox. Since its introduction in 1976, the name Bayferrox has been synonymous with iron oxide pigments of particularly high quality with simple, environmentally friendly processing properties. The expansion of the production plants in the subsequent years and the acquisition of additional production facilities were aimed not only at increasing production capacity but above all at improving the range of services and the proximity to the customer. Fig. 1: The Krefeld-Uerdingen site around 1880
Fields of application for pigments LANXESS pigments have, for many decades, been firmly established in a wide variety of applications across the globe. On the one hand, they are of course used to color all kinds of different systems, from concrete to automotive topcoats, from rubber to paper, and from artificial turf to colored mulch for garden landscaping. But they also boast a number of important physical Fig. 2 : The Krefeld-Uerdingen site and chemical properties that allow their use in technical fields of application that are not necessarily color-related. The following table gives some examples, but are by no means exhaustive: Pigments application Bayferrox Chrome Oxide Colortherm Bayoxide Bayscape Green Building materials Paints and coatings Glass Rubber Ceramics Cosmetics Plastics Mulch Paper Technical Brake Refractory Photo Foundry Drinking water Catalysts Polishes Toners application linings industry chemicals products treatment Bayoxide
The production of iron oxide pigments Pigments, environment and physiological compatibility To manufacture Bayferrox, Colortherm and Chrome Oxide Green pigments, LANXESS uses the latest, state-of-the-art processes. For the historical reasons described above, what is commonly known as the Laux process has become established at LANXESS as the main production method for synthetic iron oxide pigments (Fig. 3). LANXESS, integrated into a long tradition of responsible chemical production, is fully committed to the Responsible Care initiative and operates a certified environmental management system in line with DIN EN ISO 14001. This means that the inorganic pigments from LANXESS are produced with maximum regard for the conservation of the environment and resources. The pigment slurry produced during manufacture is freed of unreacted iron residues and washed to eliminate the salts. Through careful drying, yellow and black pigments are obtained directly, LANXESS pigments are non-toxic, physiologically safe and, because of their insolubility in water, pose no risk to the environment. while red pigments are produced through the oxidizing calcination of black raw pigments in rotary kilns. In addition to this Laux process, some production sites also use the Penniman process, in which iron oxide pigments are precipitated from iron salt solutions under air oxidation (Fig. 3). Fe 3 O 4 Black Laux process Raw materials: Nitrobenzene Metallic iron Fe 2 O 4 Red FeOOH Yellow Precipitation process Raw materials: Iron sulfate Caustic soda solution Air Aniline Blends Brown Fig. 3: Schematic representation of the Bayferrox production process
The pigment product range The high-performance range The palette of LANXESS pigments is very large indeed. In each basic color, it contains a variety of pigments with closely graded shades, which means that the Bayferrox and Chrome Oxide Green pigments cover a very broad assortment of shades (Fig. 4). LANXESS offers high-performance (HP) grades of 20 core products from the Bayferrox line and Chrome Oxide Green. This HP product line comprises micronized red, yellow and black pigments. Major advantages of these products are the tight tolerances with respect to shade and tinting strength. This makes Red yellowish red bluish red color reproduction when formulating paints and coatings faster, easier and more reliable; in many cases there is no need for sha- Yellow greenish yellow reddish yellow ding work. In addition to the classic products, the HP range also includes a number of specialty products that overcome the Brown light-brown reddish-brown/dark-brown limitations of conventional iron oxide pigments. Examples of these include a non-acicular yellow with no silking effect; a clean Black dark-gray anthracite shade gamma-feooh yellow with a red undertone; and heatresistant yellow and black grades. These thermostable products Green bluish green yellowish green Fig. 4: Extensive palette of colors in the LANXESS range significantly improve application reliability with respect to shade for powder coatings and coil coatings. LANXESS produces inorganic color pigments throughout the world and is a major player on the world market. In addition to products that are available globally, it can also supply special customized grades to comply with local specifications. Further to the broad range of products, the LANXESS Inorganic Pigments Business Unit also offers comprehensive expert technical advice in connection with the use of inorganic color pigments in Like the HP range, which is geared entirely to the needs of the surface coatings industry, there is also a full range of innovative specialty products tailored to the specific characteristics of the various areas of application. Below is a brief overview of the application-related inorganic color pigments from LANXESS, marketed under the names Bayferrox, Colortherm, Bayoxide and Bayscape : a wide variety of applications. The range covers both proven standard products plus a large variety of innovative specialties to comply with particular customer requirements. Product line Bayferrox C grades Bayferrox G grades Bayferrox Z grades Colortherm pigments Bayscape Bayoxide grades Field of application Compact pigments for the construction industry Pigment granules for the construction industry High-purity pigments e.g. for cosmetics, food applications Heat-resistant pigments e.g. for the coloring of plastics Specialty pigments for the decorative coloring of mulch in garden landscaping High-grade iron oxides/chrome oxides for technical applications
Global service Großbritannien/ Great Britain LANXESS Ltd. Hawley Colours Branston Burton-on-Trent Staffordshire DE14 3WH Spanien/Spain Europigments, S. L. Cami del Mig, s/n o. de Correos, 2 E-08340 Vilassar de Mar (Barcelona) Deutschland/Germany LANXESS Deutschland GmbH Business Unit Inorganic Pigments 47812 Krefeld USA LANXESS Corporation 111 RIDC Park West Drive Pittsburgh PA 15275-1112 China LANXESS Shanghai Pigments Co. Ltd. 845 Qi Lian Shan Road Shanghai 200331 Peoples Republic of China Brasilien/Brazil LANXESS S. A. Rua Domingos Jorge, 1100-10. Andar B. Socorro CEP 04779-900 São Paulo-SP Australien/Australia LANXESS Pty. Ltd. Unit 1/31, Hill Road NSW 2127 Homebush Bay With pigment production facilities in Germany, the UK, Spain, the U.S.A., Brazil, China and Australia, LANXESS can be found all across the globe. Our goal is to satisfy all our customers, wherever they are. To do this, we focus on the pooled experience of our employees not only in the Competence Centers, but also in our regional agencies and branches in the many countries of the world. Here, specialists are constantly working on optimal solutions for the customers in their region. The service begins with wide-ranging information and consulting, covers all aspects of order processing, and extends to long-lasting customer support in a trusting relationship. A brief overview can be found at www.bayferrox.de and www.bayferrox.com BAYFERROX, BAYSCAPE, BAYOXIDE are registered trademarks of Bayer AG, Bayer AG, Leverkusen, Germany. This information and our technical advice whether verbal, in writing or by way of trials are given in good faith but without warranty, and this also applies where proprietary rights of third parties are involved. Our advice does not release you from the obligation to verify the information currently provided especially that contained in our safety data and technical information sheets and to test our products as to their suitability for the intended processes and uses. The application, use and processing of our products and the products manufactured by you on the basis of our technical advice are beyond our control and, therefore, entirely your own responsibility. Our products are sold in accordance with the current version of our General Conditions of Sale and Delivery. Edition: 11/2005 LANXESS Shanghai Pigments Co. Ltd. 845 Qi Lian Shan Road Shanghai 200331 Peoples Republic of China www.lanxess.com (C) Copyright 2005 Lanxess Deutschland GmbH, BU Inorganic Pigments; all rights reserved