The reason of their popularity is their highly stable nature and good strength. They are resistant to UV rays, salty weather and all different kind of atmospheric conditions. Due to these reasons they are used in a wide variety of applications, the major being coatings and construction. All Iron Oxides are non-hazardous materials and hence totally safe to transport and use. Single-component forms are mainly produced with red, yellow and black colours. Orange & Brown are made as blends.
We at Golchha Pigments Pvt Ltd started our journey in 1986 as a very small manufacturer making only 20 Tonnes a month. The company was started by Chemical Engineer Mr C S Golchha, who is also the Managing Director of the company. He started this company after working several years in the Chemical industry with valuable experience in setting up new projects and running efficient production systems.In 2002 Mr Vikas Golchha, a Mechanical Engineer and MBA joined the company to look after the marketing & finance functions.
We have opted for the precipitation & calcination process for the production of our Pigments. This process is a little complex and is supposed to give pigments of best brightness & strength. Our products were well accepted in the industry due to our quality, consistency and service.Good demand helped us gradually scale up the business and our production capacity now stands at 150MT per month and we have more space to expand it to 200MT per month by 2021. In 2017 we started the manufacturing of Micronised Red Oxides of particle size below 10 Microns and we are still the only company in India with its own fine grinding technology to offer Iron Oxides of such fineness. We also make custom grades and high purity grades (99%) against order.
Historically, the Iron Oxides market has grown at a 2%-4% per year growth rate. There have been cyclical ups and downs but over a long term, this rate holds true. The building materials industry is the biggest user of Iron Oxide Pigments. Uses include colouring concrete and mortar because of their good dispersibility and good tinting strength. They are extensively used in the manufacture of Paver Blocks, Chequered Tiles, Designer Tiles, Colored Concrete products, Stamped Concrete etc.
Coatings industry is the second largest user of Iron Oxide Pigments, especially for exterior and industrial coatings where stability, durability and anti-corrosive properties are most important. Many paint applications require use of micronized and dispersible grades of pigments to get optimum colouring effects and maintain paint film strength.
Special applications include that in Plastic Masterbatches, GlassManufacturing, ColouredPaper, Ceramic Colours, Drugs, Cosmetics, Rubber, Brake Linings, Wood Polish, Cork Sheets, Fertilizers, Cattle Feed, Pigmented Mulch. New applications include catalysts in petroleum industry, in oil drilling rigs, in compound pigments, hydrogen sulphide removal, hydrogen gas production etc.
In the Laux Process Iron Oxides are obtained as a by-product of the aniline process. The main pigment obtained is Black Iron Oxide, partially also Yellow Iron Oxide. These pigments are sold directly or used for preparation of Red Iron Oxide in the Calcination Process.
The Calcination Process uses Black Iron Oxide to oxidize it to Red or Yellow Iron Oxide to dehydrate it to red, too. High temperatures are required for this process. A precise control of the process parameters also allows the production of brown pigments.
The Penniman Process reacts metallic iron to Iron Oxide using oxygen from air and acids as catalysts. Recently the process has been developed further to also give high quality red and black pigments.
In the Precipitation Process iron salts react with caustic soda in the presence of air or oxygen. This process is controlled by temperature, pH, purity, concentration, mix design and reaction velocity. The several parameters influencing the product makes the precipitation process technically the most complicated but also produces pigments with an extremely high quality.