Written by Xu Gaodong and translated by Xin Xue
Suffered from the financial crisis erupted in 2008, there was some downturn in economic indicators of China＇s tio2 industry and its application industries. From the beginning of 2009, they have resumed growth under the macro environment where global economy had recovered and national economy stimulating policy had been initiated. Then what about the situation of tio2＇s application in plastic industry? What＇s the influence of PVC profile on the development of domestic high-grade tio2 market? With these questions, the reporter of China Tio2 Net interviewed Zhou Hongrong, the senior chief engineer of Dalian Shide Group in the National Titanium Dioxide Industry Annual Meeting held in early December.
The reporter: Mr. Zhou, could you please briefly describe the basic situation of tio2＇s application in plastic industry?
Mr. Zhou: Tio2 is one of the most basic chemical raw materials. Plastic industry is the second largest application field of tio2. In the year 2008, the production volume of plastics in China totaled 37,137,900 tons, increasing by 10.1% compared with the year 2007, in which plastic sheet profiles grew by 11.86%. In 2009, plastic industry maintained the momentum of fast growth. As one of the most basic additives in plastics industry, the dosage of tio2 has increased at an average annual growth rate of 6%. In recent years, plastics have become the fastest growing area of tio2 consumption. Tio2 has more than 500 varieties throughout the whole world, among which, more than 50 varieties are specially designed for plastics. Therefore, tio2 will have a broader development space in plastic industry.
The reporter: What＇s the role tio2 played in plastic processing and do ordinary plastics have any special requirements on tio2＇s performance?
Mr. Zhou: The role tio2 played in plastic industry mainly lie in the following two aspects. Firstly, its hiding power plays an important role in plastics, just like the basic use of other white pigments. Secondly, it＇s used to prevent ultraviolet in order to ensure that plastic products for outdoor use have good weathering abilities. And hiding power is more important to common plastic products than weathering ability.
The reporter: Then, what about PVC profiles? Do they have any special requirements on tio2＇s performance?
Mr. Zhou: As outdoor products, PVC profiles must have strong weathering ability, which mainly depends on tio2. Thus high weathering resistance is the most basic requirement of titanium dioxide. Of course, tio2 also play the role of pigment because good appearances and colors are also necessary for the profiles. With regard to rigid PVC profile, due to its complicated formula and difficult processing, on the one hand, it requires tio2 not to affect the processing performance of other ingredients, on the other hand, it has strict requirement on the heat resistance of tio2.
The reporter: What＇s the difference between tio2 used in ordinary plastics and the ones used in PVC profiles? Besides, could you please talk about the application process and features of tio2 in common plastics and PVC profiles?
Mr. Zhou: Common plastics focuse primarily on its basic properties as a pigment, namely, its hiding power, while PVC profiles main stress its weathering resistance, that is why rigid PVC profiles apply rutile tio2 with high weathering resistance. The moulding process of plastics mainly include injection molding, extrusion, calendering, blown film, blow molding, etc., among which, that of rigid PVC profiles belong to extrusion. For all the above moulding process, the raw materials need to be heated and sheared, and the ingredients must be uniformly mixed. Therefore, their common requirements on tio2 are that it must be heat-resistant, easy to disperse and it must not affect the processing performance of other ingredients. The difference mainly lies in the different effects tio2 has on the late application performance of the products.
The reporter: We know that your company, Dalian Shide Group, has become the largest manufacture of PVC profiles in the world since a few years ago. So I guess the factory must apply a great amount of tio2 in the production process. Then Mr. Zhou, could you please tell us the basic situation of the use of titanium dioxide in your factory over the past two years?
Mr. Zhou: We Shide Group is a professional manufacturer producing rigid PVC profiles which has the largest capacity both domestically and internationally for the moment. At present, we have five major production bases in China, namely, Dalian base, Chengdu base, Jiaxing base, Yinchuan base and Luohe base in Henan. Next year, Nanchang base in Jiangxi and Baodi base in Tianjin will be put into production respectively. By then, the production lines will reach more than 300. And our plan in 2010 is to achieve a sale volume of 350,000 tons. Currently, our tio2 consumption is more than 10,000 tons per year. Along with the growth of capacity and sales volume, our demand for tio2 will also be expanded rapidly.
The reporter: What should tio2 enterprises do to properly handle the relationship between the upstream and downstream industry chain if they want to develop rapidly? Mr. Zhou, could you give them some suggestions from the actual situation of your company?
Mr. Zhou: In my opinion, they should strengthen their technicall forces to improve the quality of their products as well as closely communicate and cooperate with downstream enterprises. Besides, upstream business should know the real demand of downstream business and strengthen their technical services to them. Moreover, upstream and downstream business should work together to develop truly marketable special products. Only by doing that, can homemade tio2 products truly occupy the domestic market and make their entrance into international market.
The reporter: What＇s the role tio2 played in the development of PVC profile market and what＇s the influence PVC profile＇s development have on the development of titanium dioxide industry?
Mr. Zhou: Because of its good weatherability, tio2 plays an important role in the development of PVC profile market. But if tio2 could provide more efficient performance of weathering discoloration and reduced its price appropriately, the market share PVC profile occupys in the windows and doors＇ market would be increased significantly. As one of the main users of high-end rutile tio2, rigid PVC profile has maintained a double-digit average annual growth rate over the past two decades, which not only puts forward higher requirements for homemade high-end rutile tio2 but also offers a huge development space and a good opportunity for it.
The reporter: It is said that Kaolin has many similarities with the performance of titanium dioxide and can replace tio2 in some areas. What＇s your opinion? Besides, the price of tio2 is a little higher than Kaolin, so is it possible for Kaolin to replace tio2 in the future?
Mr. Zhou: It＇s true that Kaolin has some similar performances with tio2 and can replace tio2 to some extent in some areas. However, for the moment, some performances of tio2, especially rutile tio2, for example, weathering resistance, still can not be replaced by Kaolin. Therefore, tio2 has its own application market and won＇t be completely replaced.
The reporter: Some time ago, the "Green Environmental Protection Declaration" of national tio2 industry was issued, then what do you think of the meaning of this declaration? If the declaration is carried out, will the production pattern and market competition pattern of tio2 enterprises be changed in the next few years?
Mr. Zhou: This declaration has great significance. It fully displayed the strong social responsibility of tio2 personnel and their determination to strive for progress and reform. If it is carried out, the production pattern and market competition pattern of tio2 enterprises will be surely changed in the next few years. By then, we will see a healthy, technologically advanced, quality improved and environment-friendly titanium dioxide industry with scale merit and strong market competitiveness.
The reporter: Does "Green Environmental Protection Declaration" have something to do with the policy of building "a resource-saving and environment-friendly enterprises"? As an enterprise in the application field of tio2, what measures will your company take to comply with the declaration?
Mr. Zhou: The declaration is an act of responding to the policy. It showed that domestic tio2 industry had taken the initiative to assume the social responsibility of safeguarding the survival of mankind and chosen to focuse on the long-term development of the industry. As a downstream enterprise, we will positively respond to the declaration, strive for a green industry and jointly safeguard the environment for mankind＇s survival with other enterprises.
The reporter: Currently, both industry associations and official departments are making efforts to develop chlorination process. Then is this act consistent with the requirement of the declaration?
Mr. Zhou: Yes, I think so, because whether from the perspective of technology or from the perspective of energy consumption, chlorination process has more advantages than sulfuric acid method.
The reporter: From the beginning of 2009, foreign tio2 enterprises have enhanced the price of their products for many times and the markup was not small. But meanwhile, domestic tio2 enterprises rarely raised their price. What＇s your opinion toward this phenomenon?
Mr. Zhou: This phenomenon can be attributed to following two reasons. At first, the quality of homemade tio2 products is lower than their foreign counterparts. Secondly, the market supply and demand system is at work. The fierce homogeneous competition in the domestic tio2 market resulted in the difficulty in price increase. Apparently, differentiation strategies are more intelligent in this case.
The reporter: What is the prospects of PVC profile like? In the upcoming 2010, what＇s the trend of tio2＇s application in PVC profile production?
Mr. Zhou: As a green industry conforming to policy of "energy-saving and emission reduction", profile industry has developed quickly over the past two decades. Driven by the low carbon economy, PVC profile industry will expand more rapidly and have a brighter future. Naturally, with the development of domestic tio2 industry and the improved quality of tio2 products, domestic tio2 products＇ application in profile industry will be further expanded and strengthened.
The reporter: Both chlorination and sulfuric acid process can produce rutile tio2. Then what＇s the differences between the effects produced by these two kinds of rutile tio2 when they are applied to plastic production?
Mr. Zhou: I believe both of these two processes can produce high-grade rutile tio2 with superior quality and achieve the same weathering effects and appearance quality. But in contrast, sulfuric acid process will be likely to face more difficulties. I believe that as long as domestic titanium dioxide business persevere in their efforts they will certainly be able to narrow the gap with world-class products and to occupy the domestic high-end rutile tio2 market.
The reporter: Mr. Zhou, thank you very much for your kindly support to the work of China tio2 net. Welcome to give us some guiding opinions in future.
Mr. Zhou: You are welcome. China tio2 net provide a high-quality professional information platform and a good space for the exchange of views for insiders. Surely we will pay close attention to it as usual.
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