Coal, a familiar raw material with surprising possibilities

The main activity of Cindu Chemicals is refining and processing of crude coal tar into high quality products. This raw material is in fact a by-product, which is formed during the manufacturing of coke. Coke is used in the production of iron and steel. So, traditionally, the steel industry of Hoogovens is our most important supplier. The coal tar is shipped from IJmuiden to Cindu Chemicals in Uithoorn by tanker.
 
For the transfer to and from seagoing vessels, we have our own tank storage facility in the Amsterdam port area.

Searching for an optimum composition

Every process begins with the careful mixing of the various qualities of crude coal tar until the optimum composition has been achieved. The plant is 'fed' with this. There are strict purity requirements for the different types of coal tar, which form a part of this 'crude' mixture.
 
At Cindu Chemicals, we first process the coal tar mixture via continuous distillation processes. This form of separation is based on the principle that each different substance in the coal tar has its own boiling point.

By heating the crude tar to 350 degrees Celcius and then cooling the vapours and collecting them, Cindu extracts so-called 'fractions' from the tar mass. From light fractions (the oils) to very heavy fractions (the pitches).

Most of the fractions then undergo several further processes, such as crystallisation, compounding (recombining fractions), polymerisation (the joining of molecules into longer chains) and purification through centrifugation and filtration.

Involvement: a part of the product

At Cindu Chemicals, we produce many products for an even greater variety of users. The demand in the industrial market differs so greatly for each customer that just about every product must be customised for the individual wishes of the client. We can offer the flexibility, which is needed to fulfil the various requirements
 
To us, this is a question of attitude. Involvement caries us further than just working on the development and innovations in our own laboratory: we assist our customers in the process towards improvement of their results with our products.