Chemours starts up Altamira TiO2 line in Mexico

Chemours has begun the commercial startup of its new titanium dioxide (TiO₂₎ line at its Altamira plant in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Chemours reached mechanical completion of the line in December 2015. The company has now begun to run the new line using the Chemours chloride process, producing Ti-Pure TiO₂ pigment for customer qualification. Production on the new line is expected to ramp up steadily with full nameplate capacity of 200,000t/yr being achieved over a few years. Chemours claims to have the lowest sustainable TiO₂ production cost in the world due to facility scale, proprietary process and know-how and an ability to use a wide variety of ore feedstocks. It is thought that it will reduce overall costs of TiO₂ manufacturing by about US$20M/yr.