The market
The global market for color pigments and dyes is estimated today at $ 20 billion. China has become the world's largest producer. Textiles represent the largest consumer, while the growth in demand comes mainly from printing inks since color printers are increasingly installed in each house. Industry leaders like Clariant, Dainippon, Ciba Specialty Chemicals and Basf offer more than 5,000 varieties of colors to be used in the most diverse products, including food, paper, plastics, paintings, cosmetics, pencils, soaps and ceramics.
Titanium dioxide is the best -selling pigment, the most used white pigment in the world. Titanium dioxide is made with sulfuric acid or chlorine. The titanium itself is extracted and treated at temperatures above 2000 ° C. Manufacturers are faced with another challenge: waste. For each ton of pigment, four to twelve tonnes of waste is generated, including toxic iron chloride. The industry has undergone significant changes in the formulation of products and the design of processes since governments began to prohibit toxic lead and cadmium pigments and to limit the flows of waste at the exit of the factory.
Color users had to adapt to the new regulations. The famous Pennzoil yellow bottle depended on lead, and although this bright yellow -colored pigment formula would cost $ 1.00 to $ 1.50 per book, the biological solution would cost the book $ 30. Toxic yellow has been gradually replaced by a less brilliant and less toxic version. Caterpillar, the heavy equipment manufacturer, recognized worldwide on the road for its yellow version of the earthworks, also decided to change its corporate image to a less shiny yellow after having faced a spectacular increase in the costs of the pigments in order to comply with the regulations. At the same time, new markets have appeared on which the cost factors are less sensitive. This is particularly true for printing inks. According to the magazine PC World, the ink of a color cartridge of $ 22 quarter is more expensive by weight than the imported Russian caviar. It is not surprising that the printer is offered almost free, which allows customers to buy color from the exclusive supplier.
Innovation
The blue and green butterflies, the golden and white beetles and the peacocks create colors without any pigment. Their beauty is obtained thanks to optical effects exempt from lead and cadmium, and the production process does not generate any flow of waste. The color effect is encapsulated in biodegradable materials, often based on chitin/keratin and amino acids. The main breakthrough of Professor Andrew Parker (Natural History Museum, London and Oxford University) is that he observed how animals do not pursue a single objective: color and surface have several functions. Parker has realized that the black dendrocone of Namibia ensures a low dew point in the desert, and prevents the entry of the heat of the sand of the desert, while being black.
Parker is studying how multifunctional advantages can be obtained, including protection against ultraviolet rays, heat dissipation, water absorption or waterproofing. While each of these functions is generally carried out in the industry by means of a single chemical recipe, Parker examines the powerful combination which can lead to a more expensive color device than a pigment, but which ends up being cheaper for Customers thanks to its portfolio of additional functions which, otherwise, would have been used as individual and dedicated devices, would have totaled much more money.
The approach adopted by Parker is fundamentally different from nanotechnological innovation introduced in 2004 by the Japanese chemical group Teijin, a pioneer in the manufacture of pigmentless and dye -free synthetic fibers marketed under the Morphotex® brand. Teijin uses the recipe for the Morpho butterfly from the Amazon forest in Latin America, with a cobalt blue shine without pigment. Teijin Polyester layers with nylon to generate red, green, blue and purple. Production is still limited to a few tens of tonnes per month, which is at the minute, and sales are limited to wedding dresses and traditional Japanese kimonos where the mirrum effect is very appreciated.
The first cash flow
Parker applied his knowledge to multiple applications, including the creation of a new “holographic” technology which remains secret since it offers protection against the counterfeiters of money. He then developed a development product and process. In order to prove commercial viability in a wide range of applications, Parker designs production methods to protect watchmakers from an assault on their products by integrating visual control over glass that makes recognition easy and economical.
The opportunity
The scope is vast and the opportunities affect all sectors of the economy. Perhaps one of the most promising short-term applications is the crystal for the company Swarovski. Andrew technology makes it possible to shine decorative figurines such as birds; Better still, the latter shine in a thousand lights since the color effect actually uses a process borrowed from the bird itself. Although it is a rather limited market, it makes it possible to control the versatility of the technique and to establish a new standard for the market.
The initiative to introduce these additional innovations on the market goes to color producers. As Andrew is capable of conceiving pigments with a metallic effect in or on a substrate of polymer, silica or crystal, the manufacturers who enter the global market for renewable energies could well go up the value chain and get into the creation of New materials, including plastics with color effects. Renewable plastics have focused on low -cost and large volume applications such as plastic bags and cups suffering from fierce competition in this globalized market, often asking potential customers to pay more to be able to pollute less.
The combination of plastics from renewable resources (such as agricultural, forestry and food waste) with innovations in the production of colors without pigments or dyes could increase beneficiary margins while ensuring greater market penetration thanks to the innovations described. Now that chemistry goes from petrochemicals to bioraffineries, innovative companies like Novamont in Italy (bioplastics) or Domsjö (wood -based ethanol) in Sweden, could become pioneers in the merger of industries, integrating parker innovations into Products that adorn our car, house and office. What is necessary then are the entrepreneurs who create the niches, so that we can start to penetrate the market.
