During the 2017 Annual Meeting of China TiO2 Industry in Chongqing on November 18-20, 2017, Christian Weiland, the managing partner of Ti-Cons, was interviewed by Mr. Albert Li from Industrial Minerals.
Photos of the conference can be viewed here.
The interview can be read here and down here:
1. What does Ti-Cons do?
We are consultants and technology provider for the production of TiO2 pigment using both the sulphate and the chloride route including the necessary post treatment. We deliver the necessary engineering for construction, train the staff of the customer, do the start-up and provide after sales support.
2. Why did you come to China to attend this TiO2 meeting in Chongqing?
Ti-Cons has successfully implemented the chloride process (CP) with two Chinese leading companies already, which are Yunnan Xinli and Lomon Billions in the past few years. We attended this meeting to meet TiO2 producers which are interested in our technological expertise.
3. What do you think of the Chinese TiO2 industry?
Right now, the Chinese government is not only encouraging CP technology which is more efficient, costs less energy and produces less wastes compared to traditional sulphate TiO2 technology, but also is conducting severe environmental protection inspection throughout the year and it will get stricter.
In addition, CP technology has always been dominated by competitors outside China, and the Chinese producers are working hard for breakthrough but the status is not satisfactory right now. Now there are only four producers in China using CP technology but their output is very small compared to the sulphate route.
4. What is the position for Ti-Cons in China?
We think now is a good time for Ti-Cons to strengthen our position in China as we are the only successful TiO2 technology provider, at least for CP, and more TiO2 companies are in talks with us, either needing consulting services or willing to establish a future cooperation.
5. What are the changes in recent years in the TiO2 industry?
We can really see that environmental inspection had a great impact in the TiO2 industry in China. In the past, when talking to a producer, we were asked “what is the fee for the technology, is it expensive, we don’t have enough fund, etc” and environmental aspects came afterwards. But now, people will ask us first “how effective can your technology deal with wastes and by-products?”. Now they care more about environmental issues than investment, but of course this is related to the good profits they made since 2016 when TiO2 price kept rising. Let me note that our technology is state of the art regarding the environment too.