Specialty Minerals: Mining For Healthcare
The history behind Specialty Minerals Inc., Bethlehem, PA, which used to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pfizer, stretches back to the mid 1800s, according to Judy Hahn, marketing manager-Healthcare, Specialty PCC). “The Adams, MA plant has been mining calcium carbonate and making lime from it since the 1850s. This lime was the reason Pfizer originally bought the Adams operations,” she said. “The lime was used to make citric acid, the original Pfizer product.” In October, 1992, Pfizer sold its minerals division through an initial public offering (IPO), forming Minerals Technologies Inc. (MTI). Specialty Minerals is one of the two operating groups within MTI which services the paper, polymers, building materials, paint and coatings, glass, ceramic, food and pharmaceutical industries.
The main product for Specialty Minerals in the area of healthcare is precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC), which is sometimes referred to as “refined” calcium carbonate. To make precipitated calcium carbonate, Specialty Minerals mines limestone calcium carbonate, then heats it in a kiln to 1850º F. The heat breaks the calcium carbonate into its components, lime (calcium oxide) and carbon dioxide gas, which is captured. The lime is put into water to make calcium hydroxide, and then the carbon dioxide that was saved is bubbled into the calcium hydroxide, and calcium carbonate is again formed. Since it is insoluble in the water, the calcium carbonate precipitates out.
Ms. Hahn said that there are two reasons to make a precipitated calcium carbonate, rather than just using the ground limestone. First, there are several stages in the PCC process at which the calcium carbonate can be further purified. Secondly, and more importantly, she said, “It allows us to grow different crystal sizes and shapes for different applications.” In terms of the latter, she explained “Different sizes and shapes offer a formulator the chance to pick the best particle, the one that gives the product the best performance.” The range of PCC products that the company supplies are used in many nutritional applications including calcium tablets, soft gels, effervescents, soft chews, nutritional bars and liquid meal supplements, as well as in a whole range of calcium fortified foods.
In terms of product development the company is riding the wave of the success of its CalEssence® ultra-low lead line of precipitated calcium carbonates, which were developed in response to customers’ needs to meet California Proposition 65. Ms. Hahn commented, “Both the newer CalEssence PCCs and the regular ViCALity™ PCC products are being used widely in the healthcare part of our business.” In other product news, the company has also developed “super dense” particles in both CalEssence and ViCALity PCC versions, giving manufacturers the ability to make very small calcium tablets.
Being one of the world’s largest manufacturers of precipitated calcium carbonates, Specialty Minerals has 55 satellite plants located at paper mills around the world in addition to three merchant plants. Two of the merchant plants are in the U.S., one in Adams, MA, and the other, which recently opened in September, 2000, is in Brookhaven, MS. The third is in Kings Norton, Birmingham, U.K. These merchant plants supply the PCCs for nutrition, pharmaceuticals, plastics and sealants.
Specialty Minerals maintains an emphasis on research, which Ms. Hahn said is part of the Pfizer inheritance. “We have a large research center in Bethlehem, which is equipped with some of the most sophisticated equipment found in the minerals industry and there are 140 scientists and technicians working in MTI laboratories around the world,” she said.
Recently MTI president, Jean-Paul Vallès, who lead the company’s growth into a $600+ million business since the IPO, retired at the end of December. Paul Saueracker, who had been president of the Specialty Minerals division, has taken his place. As for the future of Specialty Minerals, Ms. Hahn offered, “ We are continuing to work to develop new products for the nutritional and fortification markets and we are expanding our applications laboratories in these areas to support our customers’ formulation programs.”
—R.M.
Specialty Minerals Inc.
35 Highland Avenue
Bethlehem, PA 18017
Telephone: 877-229-9653; 610-997-8300
Fax: 610-882-9846
Website: www.mineralstech.com
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