Ciba Completes Quinacridone Pigments Expansion

Ciba Specialty Chemicals Holding, Inc. (Basel, Switzerland) has completed construction of its new quinacridone pigments plant in Newport, DE. The unit complements a $50 million diketo pyrrolo pyrrole (DPP) pigment plant opened by Ciba on the same site in 1997. It completes the company's $180 million Newport expansion program, which also includes several environmental projects.

When Ciba brought its DPP on stream, it reported that the facility expansion would cost $130 million. Like many organic pigments, the DPP plant is extremely complex. The unit contains more than 230 major pieces of equipment, more than 15 miles and piping and 85 miles of wiring, and roughly 1500 input/output points linked by more than 10,000 connections.

"The quinacridone facility that we are opening today is the capstone of our modernization efforts at Newport," says Philip King, Ciba VP of business operations and Newport plant manager.

Ciba Specialty Chemicals North America's Colors Div. is a leading global producer of pigments for paints, synthetic fibers, printing inks, and plastics as well as textile dyes. The division operates plants in Newport and St. Gabriel, LA; a formulation facility in Charlotte, NC; and a carpet dye sales/customer service center in Dalton, GA.

Edited by Alan S. Brown