Ciba Specialty Chemicals to Build New Pigments Facility

Ciba Specialty Chemicals (Tarrytown, NY) announced on May 15 that it will break ground for a new state-of-the-art quinacridone pigments (QA) facility at its Newport, DE, site. The construction is part of the company's ongoing Phenix Project.

The new $50-million QA facility will produce a high performance family of red shade pigments that will be used in automotive paints, plastics and inks. Ciba Specialty Chemical's Phenix Project is a capital investment project designed to enable Ciba's Pigments Div. to manufacture high quality pigments while improving environmental performance.

"This is one of the largest and most significant investments in the history of the pigments industry," said Jean Schaefle, president of Ciba Specialty Chemicals Pigments Div. The new facility will increase capacity in this class of pigments and at the same time reduce energy and natural resource consumption to make the site more environmentally efficient.

Previous phases of the Phenix Project have included construction of a new plant in 1997 to manufacture high-performance Diketo Pyrolo Pyrrol (DPP) pigments. To date, the plant has introduced a series of environmental infrastructure improvements. Since 1990, the Newport site has reduced its reportable emissions by more than 90%. Ciba has worked closely with both the local community and the State of Delaware through all phases of planning and construction.

Ciba Specialty Chemicals is a global leader in materials that provide color, performance and care for plastics, coatings, fibers, fabrics and other products. It is part of the worldwide Ciba Specialty Chemicals group, a company with 1997 sales of CHF 7.8 billion, sales in 117 countries, R&D in 12, and more than 23,000 employees.

Edited by Nick Basta