Metallic pigments production

Some inorganic pigments contain heavy metals. Thus production, use, and disposal are becoming more and more regulated. In the United States there are several federal regulations that control the use and disposal of heavy metals. Those relevant to the inorganic pigments iadustry are mentioned hereia (47). 

Tetrachloride-Reduction Process. Titanium tetrachloride for metal production must be of very high purity. The requited purity of technical-grade TiCl for pigment production is compared with that for metal production in Table 4. Titanium tetrachloride for metal production is prepared by the same process as described above, except that a greater effort is made to remove impurities, especially oxygen- and carbon-containing compounds. 

Titanium raw-material utilization can be broken down as illustrated in Figure 9. About 4% of the titanium mined is used as metal, 94% is used as pigment-grade Ti02, and 2% as ore-grade mtile for fluxes and ceramics. In 1995, the estimated U.S. Ti02 pigment production was valued at 2.6 biUion and was produced by five companies at 11 plants in nine states. About 47% was used in paint, 18% in plastics, 24% in paper, and 18% in other misceUaneous appHcations (56). 

Manufacturing dyes and pigments Core hardening of metals Nylon production Cyanogen chloride (CK) 1.25... 

A characteristic of the iron oxide system is the variety of possible interconversions between the different phases. Under the appropriate conditions, almost every iron oxide can be converted into at least two others. Under oxic conditions, goethite and hematite are thermodynamically the most stable compounds in this system and are, therefore, the end members of many transformation routes. The transformations which take place between the iron oxides are summarized in Table 14.1. These interconversions have an important role in corrosion processes and in processes occurring in various natural environments including rocks, soils, lakes and biota. In the latter environments, they often modify the availability and environmental impact of adsorbed or occluded elements, for example, heavy metals. Interconversions are also utilized in industry, e.g. in the blast furnace and in pigment production, and in laboratory syntheses. 

Metallic Pigments. These pigments are metal flakes of various sizes made up of aluminum, copper, zinc, and/or their alloys. The aluminum flakes develop the silver metallic colors, whereas the copper, zinc, and aluminum alloys produce the gold, copper, brass, and bronze colors. The metal effect is modified, not only by shape and size, but also by perticle size distribution within a given product. Since aluminum, in particular, as a fine dry powder, can form explosive mixtures with air, most of these materials are commercially available in paste or liquid concentrates. In addition, surface treatments of these materials enhance their appearance and performance. Flakes of other metals, such as stainless steel, are used for surface protection purposes such as corrosion resistance and electrical conductivity. 

It should also be noted that most metal detectors used during production will respond to very low metallic pigment concentrations and therefore need to be turned off, which in turn requires special handling. 

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