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Agenda

Registration and welcome refreshments
SESSION 1: OPENING PLENARY – MARKET OUTLOOK
Chair’s opening remarks
Adding a little colour (and black & white) to the discussion around pigments
  • World trade, economic growth & investment climate
  • New projects & new industry entrants
  • Recap on recent industry news & developments
  • Paint, plastic, ink & other end-user sectors
  • Feedstocks, energy & other manufacturing cost factors
  • Challenges & opportunities facing the industry
  • Technological innovations
  • Impact of legislation
  • Supply, demand & price review
Key factors affecting the pigments industry over the next 25 years
Reg Adams | Chief Executive, Artikol
TiO2 from the financial markets perspective
Coming out of Covid, the TiO2 industry has been rather noteworthy with the chemical equities following a rollercoaster factoring geopolitical issues, commodity pricing, volume swings, supply chain disruption, etc. The key equities have had an interesting 2024 YTD with outperformance by Tronox and Kronos, and underperformance by Chemours; Venator filed Chapter 11 in 2023.
This presentation will:
  • Review historical swings in results and equity performance for pigments, downstream coatings companies and the chemicals industry
  • Detail the changing landscape and the associated shift in producers’ approach to more rational pricing behaviour
  • Explain the interplay of feedstocks for producers and highlight the benefits of vertical integration
  • Examine company specific factors that have weighed on/propelled equity prices
State the current views from Wall Street and expectations for future share price performance
Frank J. Mitsch | President, Fermium Research, LLC
TiO2 in the European Green Deal
  • The European Green Deal is the EU’s ambitious plan to become a climate neutral and fully circular economy by 2040. Titanium dioxide is an important building block to meet this ambition.
  • The Titanium Dioxide Manufacturers Association (TDMA) will provide an update on the opportunities and challenges faced by the titanium dioxide industry in the Green Deal context.
TDMA will present recent regulatory developments related to TiO2 in Europe and the new trends under the Green Deal where TiO2 is a part of the solution to create more sustainable products and buildings.

Shannon Walker | Chair, Life Cycle Inventory Task Force, TDMA
Steve Hollins | Chair, Chemical Strategy for Sustainability Task Force, TDMA
Networking break
Sponsored by 
 
SESSION 2: INNOVATION
The next generation of sustainable inorganic pigments - titanium dioxides and iron oxides produced with significantly reduced environmental impact
Imagine that traditional titanium dioxide production processes, such as sulfate or chloride processes, which have dominated the market for decades, are eclipsed by a completely redesigned production process that reduces the overall impact of each produced kilogram of finished titanium dioxide by at best more than half. A complete rethink of each production step has made it possible to include a co-production for iron oxides to almost completely reduce emissions and waste throughout the process. Combined with renewable energy and wastewater treatment, the result is a new generation of pigments that could help make even standard end products more sustainable and reduce the environmental impact of their use.
Dr. Corinna Ludwig | Managing Director , Kuncai Pigments Europe GmbH
Measuring the mass and diameter of pigment particles - towards a universal size standard
The size of a pigment particle is a relevant parameter for the producers, consumers, and regulators. The broad range of particle shapes and optical properties poses a challenge for most particle sizing techniques. Ultimately, only electron microscopy imaging can detect any pigment material, but its application is limited by its high cost, low throughput and only provides a 2D-image. A newly developed measurement instrument allows us to detect number-weighted distributions of the particle mass and diameter in less than 15 minutes. The particle mass is a fundamental and intrinsic property of a particle and, therefore, doesn’t require the assumption of spherical particle shape. The measurement concept does not rely on optical particle detection and is independent of material refractive indices. This makes the particle mass ideal to become a standard reference for the size of a particle. In combination with a diameter determination, the new instrument gives insights into the effective particle packing density and other structural parameters. For example, a typical iron red pigment has a median mass of 31 fg (10^-15 g) and a diameter of 274 nm. The resulting particle density of 2.9 g/cc indicates that the material consists of aggregated particles with a significant pore volume and not densely packed spherical particles (cf. true material density of Iron(III)-oxide is 5.2 g/cc). From a number-weighted mass distribution, the total number of particles per gram ( e.g. 10^13 particles/gram) can be obtained. By simultaneously detecting the particle diameter, the nanoparticle content cannot only be expressed by a number-percentage but also by its absolute content (10^12 nanoparticles/gram versus 10% by number) We deployed this analytical technique to investigate the mechanical stability of coated titanium dioxides. With increasing dispersion intensity, an increasing amount of the coating material is sheared off from the core particle. Firstly, this reduces the pigment performance in its final application and secondly, a majority of the released particles are nanoparticles. Total amounts of more than 1013 nanoparticles per gram were recorded. Similar observations were made for other coated pigments as well. In coordination with the conference organizers, we will present data for titanium dioxide or colour pigments. Further we focus on the instrument as a potential size standard and/or on the regulatory implications of the release of nanoparticles.
Franz Friebel | Founder & CEO, FemtoG
Networking lunch
SESSION 3: PIGMENT SUSTAINABILITY
Chair’s opening remarks
Exploration of biobased pigments in formulations for digital printing
As the world is moving to a more sustainable economy, all industries have to re-evaluate their practices and adapt their products and processes. This is not different in the digital printing industry. A path to more sustainable inks could be by making use of biobased raw materials like biobased pigments. Unfortunately, biobased pigments are now associated with worse light stability, higher pricing and formulation challenges compared to their fossil fuel counterparts. In this lecture, I would like to highlight the process & challenges of introducing biobased pigments in formulations for digital printing. As a case study, the formulation pathway of the introduction of biobased indigo will be discussed.
Sophie Lingier | Research Leader Formulation Chemistry and Chemical Sourcing Manager , Agfa-Gevaert nv
Why we need to detoxify colours and pigments
Networking break
Sponsored by 
From wood waste to black gold: a circular approach to making black pigments
PANEL: How can pigments better fit into the circular economy?
Chair’s summary and end of day one
Evening networking reception
FUNCTIONAL PIGMENTS
Chair’s opening remarks
Radar and lidar compatible non-metallic effect flake pigments
Metallic effect pigments are popular in automotive coatings. However, coatings containing metal flake pigments can block the radar signals from radar units behind painted plastic bumper covers. Reformulation of coatings to remove metal flakes and replace with non-metallic flakes can help reduce the radar blocking issues. However, it can be difficult to achieve the desired visual color effects that result from the high reflectance of metal flake pigments. Another challenge is that near infrared lidar signals, which reflect specularly from metal flake pigments, have reduced detection due to this specular reflection. New theoretical and experimental studies demonstrate thin multilayer stack flake pigments that can achieve the high reflectance of aluminum flake pigments while also reducing the troublesome specular reflectance of lidar signals.
Eldon Decker | Sr. Research Associate, PPG Industries, Inc.
Proud pearls
Many innovations are taking place along the chain of development, production and marketing of pigments today. What are the expectations for new pearlescent pigments in terms of color - functionality - quality? Being beautiful. Going beyond the daily pace of standardization in paint processes and the constant increase in efficiency with high quality consistency: Differentiation in design, being chosen among many, this is the ambition of us all. "Mineral Red" stands out in this role as a pearlescent pigment thanks to its highly chromatic, pure and slightly bluish red color with a fine texture and excellent hiding power. Having what it takes. Technological developments of coatings are driven by the functionalities of their components. “RDR Silver” - the main focus of this lecture - is being launched as a new bright silver-grey pearlescent pigment. It enables automotive coatings to be simultaneously Radar-transparent and opaque and bright with a distinct flop. New effect formulations with characteristic silver/grey and colored shades emphasize the three-dimensional contour of the objects. Their data on Radar-transparency allow to decide for a closed design concept with sensors behind plastic parts. Going digital. Paint manufacturers - especially in the automotive sector - rely on the consistent quality of the components supplied to ensure a smooth process. In our quality control, the “Q-Line” performs a fully automated production and measurement of color cards for pearlescent pigments. A color release by instrumental data requires reliable color data which have correlate with the visual evaluation under different geometries. This is being realized today in the DIN99o color space. Overall, our various journeys towards a digitized future serve to create further real and “proud pearls”.
Thomas Rentschler | Technical Service Pigments, Merck KGaA
IR Reflective pigments & use for recycling of food packaging
This presentation will deliver:
  • An introduction to Complex inorganic color pigments : how are these made, what are their characteristics
  • IR reflective pigments : how do they work and what makes them functional
Use of IR reflective pigments to enable the recyclability of black food packaging
Tom Mestdag | Sales & Business Development Manager EMEA, The Shepherd Color Company
Measuring safety by quantifying visibility enabling increased (LiDAR) visibility and thermal comfort design options for the wider mobility industry
Envision the pathway to ‘Vision Zero’. On the way to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all. To help in attaining this vision not only better, and integrated ADAS-sensors are required, but also a higher (and above all measurable) visibility of all traffic participants is key.
Up to now, increasing full object visibility (Computer and LiDAR) of traffic participants, has not been achieved in an industrial form-free application as a truly integrated and tunable design parameter. Enter RheoLight ‘Crystal Glass Pigments’, an innovative new class of effect pigments. In a perfect symbiosis with existing metallics and pearlescents, RheoLight brings a new play with light and opens up a completely new color landscape, enabling color stylists to incorporate increased visibility for both humans and sensors (e.g. LiDAR) with a new color freedom to any design. Increasing LiDAR functionalization of coatings for instance exponentially increases distance detectability of vehicles.
Aside from this effect pigment innovation, the team behind Ink Invent has only just introduced a new visibility scoring model that captures the 3-dimensional nature and visibility of cars, coaches, scooters and bikes. This new way of looking at visibility is pivotal to quantifying the 3-dimensional visibility of traffic participants from a driver and ADAS sensor system perspective. This new Color Visibility Model has been developed to help set voluntary standards for quantifying full object visibility of vehicle coatings and enables the selection of colors based on their ability to increase full object visibility. By deploying more sensor-friendly colors, ADAS performance, and thus traffic environment safety, can now be enhanced.
By adding Crystal Glass Pigments to the color coat of automotive and other mobility exteriors, a significant, positive and measurable contribution to thermal comfort and automotive heat management can be attained by decreasing uptake of solar radiation. First results will be presented and supported by experimental data.
Paul Mijnen MBA MSc. | CEO, Ink Invent BV
Networking break
Covert optical tracers to secure pigments, paints, inks, and coatings against counterfeiting
The presentation gives an overview of available tracer technologies. It also focuses on optical ceramic materials used as covert tracers, their detection methods and instrumentation as well as case studies. The tracers enable monitoring not only the provenance of branded products but also their unauthorized dilution.
Dr. Vitaly Talyansky | Managing Partner, Stardust Materials, LLC
COLOUR DESIGN AND MEASUREMENT
Determination of colour terms based on perception and establishment of an automatic color naming system
Color naming is a linguistic method used to describe the perceived colors among millions of tones in the light spectrum. This classification provides pre-labeled cognition on the description of appearance, object discrimination, and even color matching processes. Cultural differences can lead to variations in cognitive evaluations and linguistic expressions for the same visual color stimuli. Studies on Turkish color terms are limited, but research indicates that factors such as age, gender, occupation, city of residence, and the evolution of the language within a culture can influence the formation of basic and non-basic color terms. This study presents a two-part investigation aimed at identifying Turkish basic color terms and establishing an automatic color naming system. In the initial phase, a color listing task and a color focus naming task were conducted to explore Turkish color terms, semantic memory, and the potential impact of factors like age, gender, occupation, city of residence, and department on color term selection. Subsequently, an automatic color naming system was developed to assign names to colors based on their Lab* values. Statistical analyses revealed 11 basic Turkish color terms consistent with universal theory and identified two additional groups comprising secondary color terms. While the secondary color terms “turquoise”, “navy blue”, “beige”, “lilac” and “burgundy” have a high potential to be considered as basic color terms, there is insufficient evidence to include “fuchsia” and “mauve” in BCTs. The second phase of the study focused on establishing an automatic color naming system capable of assigning names to chromatic colors based on their Lab* values. Employing R-Studio, Matlab, and Python software, various analyses, including K-means clustering, gap statistics, and consensus maps, were conducted, resulting in 18 optimal color clusters. The automatic color naming system was created with an algorithm using the data of consensus map with 50% threshold. The system can calculate the distance from any color to the nearest cluster using the dE2000 equation and assign a color name. It also achieved an 82% success rate in a trial involving 5450 color data named by individuals.
Merve Samiye Kirazlı | Color R&D Laboratory Manager, Kansai Altan
Measuring black – an easy task?
Selling carbon black is one thing. But following our WE KNOW BLACK® approach means much more for Orion. Not only dispersing carbon black is sometimes challenging. Especially the measurement of deep-black coatings places great demands on sample preparation as well as the measurement technology and calibration. Since the last century, we support our customers with a deep understanding about measuring black, resulting in several publications about this topic. Obtaining measurements of deep-black coatings that correlate well with optical color perception, requires careful preparation of samples. In this presentation we will show some basics and give examples what pitfalls might show up when measuring black. E.g., the use of calibration plates usually does not suffice, as they are not black enough. As deep black can only be measured on high-gloss and clean plates, any contaminants must be very thoroughly removed and the plates must be absolutely free of scratches, fingerprints, and similar, before measuring. But as well a suitable measurement geometry is necessary. Instruments with a d/8° geometry are sufficient for many applications. To achieve reproducible measurements for deep-black coatings with the highest color depths, instruments with a 45°/0° geometry must be used, even if the observed values are lower than those obtained with a d/8° setup. Tabletop devices are to be preferred over portable devices. If these specifications are followed, replicable measurements of deep-black coatings are possible and reproducible information about the blackness/jetness MY and undertone dM can be obtained. The undertone itself can either reinforce the impression of blackness (in most cases with a blue undertone) or decrease it (in most cases with a brown undertone).
Dr. Kai Krauss | Senior Technical Market Manager Coating Systems, Orion S.A.
Networking lunch
CLOSING PLENARY - WHAT'S NEXT?
Chair’s opening remarks
Snapshot Panel: What are end users looking for from the industry?
Representatives from end use and brand owner companies take this opportunity to talk about what they are working on in the coming years and what they need from the supply chain to achieve their goals. Short presentations will be followed by a Q&A session.
 
Dr. Kjersta Larson-Smith | Technical Fellow, Boeing Research & Technology
Panel: What comes next?
Members of the Pigment and Colour Science Forum and TiO2 World Summit advisory boards reflect on the key learnings from their conferences and look to the future of the pigments and TiO2 industries
Chair’s summary and end of conference
Pigment-and-Colour-Science-Forum-agenda-24-9-24