Aterian makes heavy metal combination with EverZinc, U.S. Zinc

HOUSTON—Aterian Investment Partners' foray into the zinc oxide industry began in 2018 when the New York City firm purchased U.S. Zinc.

The platform came full circle June 1 when Aterian acquired Belgium-based EverZinc, forming one of the largest zinc oxide and zinc powder suppliers in the world with the union of U.S. Zinc and EverZinc, the company said.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

"Starting with our platform investment in U.S. Zinc in 2018, we built a long-term thesis around zinc chemistry," Joshua Ciampa, managing director at Aterian, told Rubber News. "Since then, we have made significant improvements in technology, operations and commercial development, all of which have led to significant re-investments into the enterprise."

Ciampa added that the investment in EverZinc further expands on Aterian's vision "as the organization continues to partner and innovate with its customers."

The combined company, encompassing about 800 employees across furnaces and plants in North America, Europe, Scandinavia and Asia, will operate under the EverZinc brand.

"This will represent the strong heritage of each company and the mission to be a global, reliable and trusted partner," EverZinc CEO Vincent Dujardin told Rubber News June 7.

A total zinc oxide capacity for the newly combined EverZinc was not disclosed by the company.

"Joining together these two companies combines 200-plus years of operating experience, innovation and reliability," Dujardin said. "It builds on the strong foundation of two great company histories and their shared vision to offer technological and innovative solutions that can nourish, energize and protect the world through the possibilities of zinc."

EverZinc brings four main product lines to bear, including zinc oxide, fine zinc powder, ultra-fine zinc oxide (under the brand name Zano) and zinc battery materials.

U.S. Zinc also produces zinc oxide and zinc powder, as well as zinc metal and zinc salts, across four facilities in Texas and Tennessee.

"U.S. Zinc does produce refined zinc metals via a recovery process, which extracts zinc from recycled materials," Dujardin said.

According to the company, EverZinc has made major inroads into supplying materials for rechargeable zinc batteries for use in energy grids, telecommunications, data centers and UPS applications; and on the e-mobility side in scooters, wheelchairs, bikes and start-stop technology.

With the research and development assistance of U.S. Zinc, EverZinc will look to gain further market share in personal care, storage and rechargeable batteries, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, textiles, agriculture, feed, corrosion-inhibiting paints and coatings, and rubber.

"EverZinc brings seven new scalable furnace technologies and decades of zinc chemistry (intellectual property) spread across 11 additional facilities in North America, Europe and Asia," Dujardin said. "U.S. Zinc will provide industry-leading zinc recycling expertise and well-positioned infrastructure and technology to continue developing zinc-based solutions for high growth and developing markets in the United States and across the globe."

Moving forward, EverZinc officials say they will look to source feedstock raw materials from third-party, by-product sources for producing zinc oxide—like furnace dust from recycling galvanized steel or materials reclaimed from scrap tires.

Typically, zinc materials can be recycled from top dross, bottom dross, skims and fines, all by-products of galvanized steel production, according to Dujardin.

By converting used zinc material already available in the marketplace, industry-wide sustainability can be encouraged, the company said.

"Zinc can be recovered without a significant loss in quality, resulting in less need for virgin zinc and the air and water emissions, deforestation, energy consumption and waste that often results from mining and processing virgin zinc," the company stated in a June 1 release.

Dujardin noted that EverZinc does not mine virgin zinc for use in its oxides and powders.

"About 50 percent of raw materials are obtained from recycled sources," Dujardin said. "EverZinc will look to leverage U.S. Zinc's expertise and significant investments in recycled zinc processing technologies aimed at increasing the use of recycled raw materials."

It can nourish and care, energize and innovate or protect and enhance—such are the virtues of zinc oxide and powders.

The zinc industry comprises a complex web of production, processing and end-use manufacturing, and as such, EverZinc will look to balance a recovering tire industry with upticks in personal care, agriculture, packaging and medical markets.

While about 40 percent of the total zinc oxide market (from all producers of zinc oxide) in North America goes toward the rubber and tire industry, the compound also can be found in dental care, sunscreens, fertilizers, livestock feeds, over-the-counter flu remedies, vitamins, tile glazes, paints, food additives and even electronics.

"Aterian will continue to support EverZinc through investment in capacity, technology and innovation," Aterian's Ciampa said. "Global applications for zinc are reaching a critical inflection point, and we are pleased to be in a position to leverage our European or Asian technology for capacity in North America, and vice-versa."

During the French (or indirect) process by which zinc oxide is produced, zinc metal is placed in solid form into huge muffle furnaces and heated to a molten form.

The molten zinc then is boiled in a different furnace, and the boiling zinc ultimately is introduced to ambient air.

At that point, the zinc self-ignites and forms zinc oxide, a fine white powder that can be distributed as is, or in pellet form.

For any rubber compound, zinc oxide acts as an activator for vulcanization, adding strength and improving a compound's resistance to heat, abrasion and ultraviolet degradation.

Zinc is the fourth most common metal in use in the world, and it has made considerable inroads as a potential material of choice in nascent markets, Aterian said.

"As one of the most widely available and sustainable metals in the world, zinc is uniquely recyclable and has applications critical to our future," said Christopher H. Thomas, co-founder and partner at Aterian.

"This investment further expands on our vision as the organization will continue to partner and innovate with its customers to lead the industry through technological and sustainable alternatives and solutions."

In personal care, for instance, zinc minerals are seen as a better alternative to existing materials in sunscreens and skin care products. For energy storage, new battery combinations such as zinc-air and nickel-zinc are becoming viable anode material alternatives to existing batteries.

"This combination will strengthen our global footprint, improve sourcing capabilities, diversify our business and allow our platform to better serve customers on a global scale," said Joel Hawthorne, president and CEO of U.S. Zinc.

Hawthorne will serve as vice chairman of the new EverZinc and a member of the combined company's board of directors.

"We are eager to continue serving existing applications while cultivating new market streams for our zinc components," he said.