China's TiO2 sector: : The cost of transformation

• Autores: Albert Li
• Localización: Industrial Minerals, ISSN 0019-8544, Nº. 585, 2016 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Julio/Agosto)
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • China first began producing TiO[subscript]2 in the mid-1950s, but industrial scale output of the pigment did not begin until 1998, when the country's capacity was 194,000 tonnes and production totalled 140,000 tonnes. Today, China's TiO[subscript]2 capacity is more than 3m tonnes and last year the country produced 2.3m tonnes. It has had the largest TiO[subscript]2 capacity in the world since 2009, when it surpassed the US's figure of 1.5m tonnes.

    In 2015, there were 42 major TiO[subscript]2 producers in China, four fewer than in 2014, after capital pressures caused by the deceleration in Chinese GDP growth led some companies to collapse. Of these, 38 produced sulphate-route TiO[subscript]2 while just three made chloride-route material. With a combined capacity of 2.8m tonnes, this leading group of companies produced 2.3m tonnes TiO[subscript]2 last year, with an average capacity utilisation rate of 83%, slightly below the 85% level considered to be economically efficient. However, while some of the largest producers, including Sichuan Lomon Titanium Industry Co., Henan Billions Chemicals Co. and CNNC Hua Yuan Titanium Dioxide Co., ran at close to 100% capacity, others produced at well below the average rate, meaning there is an imbalance in the profitability of China's top TiO[subscript]2 companies