Lanxess showcased its range of iron oxide and chromium oxide pigments at the bC India Expo 2014 in Noida.
Lanxess, the global specialty chemicals company and one of the world?s leading manufacturers of inorganic colour pigments showcased its range of iron oxide and chromium oxide pigments at the bC India expo 2014 in Noida. India?s fast growing construction industry is a key market for the Lanxess Inorganic Pigments business unit.
Synthetic iron and chromium oxide pigments from Lanxess, marketed under the brands Bayferrox? and Colortherm?, display high colour strength, consistency, lightfastness, colourfastness, UV stability, weather-resistance and are characterised by their high quality and environment-friendly processing. These characte?ristics of Bayferrox and Colortherm pigments guarantee long-lasting colours in applications pertaining to the construction industry.
The construction industry is one of the largest consumers of Bayferrox pigments, which are used to colour construction materials such as cast in-situ concrete, pre-cast concrete components, concrete roofing tiles, pavers and asphalt. Easy to use and ecologically friendly, the products are available in the form of powder, compact pigment, granules and slurry.
?bCIndia is an excellent platform for us to showcase the Bayferrox range of colour pigments and meet our valuable customers. We also offer our customers in India professional technical support, which can enable them to achieve perfect colours for their construction materials,? added Pradeep Kumar, Head of Business Unit Inorganic Pigments at Lanxess India.
The colour range of the Bayferrox and Colortherm product portfolio includes yellow, red, green, brown and black. In between these colours, a variety of additional shades are possible. The shades tend towards the opaque colours found in nature, and thus fit harmoniously with the environment.
Lanxess is currently expanding its iron oxide production capacity by building a high-tech facility for the production of New Red iron oxide pigments in Ningbo on China?s East Coast with a designed initial annual synthesis capacity of 25,000 metric tonne. At the same site, Lanxess is also constructing a mixing and milling plant for inorganic pigments with an annual capacity of 70,000 metric tonne. The total investment at the Ningbo site is around EUR 60 million. Lanxess will be manufacturing high-quality, yellowish iron oxide red pigments there using an improved and highly sustainable Penniman Red process. Enhanced water and waste gas treatment will ensure good environmental compatibility. Thanks to a particularly energy-efficient process, the plant will meet the highest international environmental standards. The plants are scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2015 and to start production in the first quarter of 2016.
?With our New Red iron oxide plant coming up in Ningbo, China, we will be able to serve our customers in the Asia-Pacific region even better with sustainable products. Lanxess will be the first manufacturer of iron oxide pigments to ensure sustainable production of bright yellowish red pigments with consistently high quality. Thanks to the new mixing and milling plant, we will be offering an expanded portfolio of pigments that features the New Red pigments alongside our proven inorganic colour pigments,? said Rafael Suchan, Vice President, Business Unit Inorganic Pigments, Asia Pacific.
Some of the interesting applications of these Lanxess pigments are as follows.
Coloured paving blocks/flooring tiles: While paving blocks can be seen commonly in India especially in modern infrastructure, flooring tiles are still popular in Tier-II and Tier-III towns of India. Coloured concrete paving stones and decking slabs in pedestrian zones and public squares bring colour to an otherwise monotonous surface. They can also brighten up bicycle paths, parking lots and approach ramps. The production of multi-coloured concrete paving blocks and slabs is also possible and is similar in application. Depending on the machinery available, different production procedures are possible.
Coloured concrete masonry blocks: Coloured concrete masonry blocks can be used for new buildings which need to blend in with old buildings or, to accentuate an architectural effect: Buildings with integrally-coloured concrete masonry blocks have a higher visual appeal than their grey counterparts. Also, coloured concrete roof tiles bring an element of colour to individual designs and roofing work. The choice of pigment is of major importance for the quality of the end-product. Their strength and consistency of colour that Bayferrox and Colortherm offer, prove to be an advantage in this particular application.
Coloured acoustic barriers: Coloured sound barriers insulate concrete walls from the noise outside, used mainly on highways or motorways. They can be coloured so that they can blend in with their surroundings, to create a uniform effect with neighboring buildings, or to make them stand out against the environment. Again, the weather fastness of Lanxess pigments protect these walls against the effects of different climatic conditions.
Safer traffic via coloured asphalt: Modern roads can now be seen with colour as a design element. Coloured asphalt and mastic asphalt guide traffic, show the way, designate zones and decorate plazas – in soft or strong tones, matched to the ambience of the surroundings. Lanxess offers a broad palette of iron and chromium oxide pigments for the colouring of bituminous mixtures as the raw materials for asphalt and mastic asphalt.
With its broad colour palette, Lanxess also offers greater design freedom, with the colour being influenced solely by the bitumen used. Dark standard bitumen is most commonly coloured red using heat stable iron oxide red pigments with high tinting strength. By using light coloured specialty bitumen, the colour spectrum can be extended to even include white surfaces. In addition, iron oxide yellow, brown and black can also be used with light bitumen.
Iron and chromium oxides for ceramic colours: There are various commodity articles made of ceramic materials, which have colour requirements. Lanxess offers a variety of chromium and iron oxides with defined particle size and high reactivity, stability and outstanding covering power, which can be used in the production of iron chromate and copper chromate spinels.
Colourful fibre-cement boards: Fibre-cement boards can be used for roofs or walls – for example, in the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg. Bayferrox inorganic colour pigments were used for the stadium fatade of glass fiber-reinforced concrete.
The construction industry is one of the largest consumers of Bayferrox pigments, which are used to colour construction materials such as cast in-situ concrete, pre-cast concrete components and asphalt.