Titanium dioxide pigment is a fine white powder. When used in paints, plastics or paper, it provides maximum whiteness and opacity. It gives paint high hiding power, meaning the ability to mask or hide a substrate. It does this more effectively than any other white pigment. Today, titanium dioxide pigment is the most important material used by the paints and plastics industry for whiteness and opacity. These unique properties are derived from the refractive index of titanium dioxide. The refractive index expresses the ability to bend and scatter light. Titanium dioxide has the highest refractive index of any material known greater even than diamond. To take advantage of this property, titanium dioxide must be mined, refined and ground to a fine, uniform particle size. Nature does not yield titanium dioxide in a form that is usable by our customers.




Titanium dioxide is usually associated with iron, mostly as ilmenite. It is also mined in one of the pure forms, rutile beach sand.

Yillong converts these raw materials to produce “Tionox” titanium dioxide pigments. The production of titanium dioxide pigments is basically a refinement step. This may be achieved by either the sulfate process, which uses sulfuric acid as a separating agent, or the chloride process, which works with chlorine. Once refined and developed to the appropriate particle size, the pigment may be surface treated with inorganic oxides and an organic compound to achieve better technical performance, such as easy processability or higher weather durability.