Industry & equipment
We provide minerals for a range of specialist applications across the machinery, automotive, cryogenic insulation, foundry coatings and plastics recycling sectors.
Exceeding industrial needs with sustainable solutions
Faced with ever-evolving customer needs in a fast-paced market, our industry & equipment teams provide the expertise that our clients count on. We provide minerals for a range of specialist applications across the machinery, automotive, cryogenic insulation, foundry coatings and plastics recycling sectors.
We are the world’s largest producer of the minerals used in abrasives, with alumina-, bauxite- and zirconia-based solutions core to our business. We understand the importance of achieving more efficient industrial equipment, and better wearing surfaces. Our specialist fused minerals Science & Technology center in Villach, Austria, is a world leader in tailored technical solutions. It showcases the unique fusion technology that is key to boosting abrasive efficiency, durability, heat dissipation and wear resistance.
With sustainability in mind, we provide solutions for industry to reduce negative environmental impacts. Our absorbents – based on perlite, moler, zeolite and other minerals – are used in the clean up of oil or chemical spills and in industrial insulation. Minerals such as talc, mica and calcium carbonate enhance the properties of recycled plastics making them suitable for use in more stringent applications, hence reducing the need for virgin resins.
Whether it’s fine-tuning the lining of an industrial kiln, extending the lifespan of a laminate floor, or improving the efficiency of a motor engine, we help our customers better serve their own customers while exceeding the increasingly stringent local industry regulatory requirements.
- Producing finer and finer raw materials to improve performance and efficiency
- Helping customers deliver lighter, safer and more resistant end products
- Working closely with customers to help them reduce their environmental footprint
Over 50 years serving cryogenic insulation
Did you know expanded perlite can prevent liquefied gases from boiling at temperatures as low as -269°C (-452°F)? Indeed, due to their light weight, low thermal conductivity, low moisture retention and non-flammability, expanded perlites such as our Cryolite 200 grade are materials of choice for insulating cryogenic and low-temperature housings for liquified gases such as nitrogen, oxygen and argon, used in a variety of industries ranging from medical applications to food processing.
With wholly owned perlite mines spanning the globe and perlite expansion plants located in the US, Middle East and Asia, Imerys is able to offer expanded perlite for cryogenic facility operators throughout the world.
Related markets
Abrasives
Whether you are looking to polish, sand, smoothen, grind, or even cut a workpiece, you want to be sure that the material used, its hardness and grain size are right for the job at hand. We are the world leader in fused minerals for abrasives, ready to assist and deliver on all your finishing needs.
China’s electric vehicle (EV) market continues to experience exponential growth, with over half the population projected to drive fully electric or hybrid vehicles by 2025. Inaugurated in October 2023, Imerys’ talc processing plant in Wuhu China is now successfully fueling the Chinese automotive market with the essential mineral solutions it needs to drive its transition towards more sustainable mobility.
Imerys has just completed the acquisition of Société de Traitement Industriel des Minéraux (STIM), a French family business based in Monteux, near Avignon. STIM is a historic partner of about 20 years.
A project to test calcined clay as an ingredient in low-carbon concrete has proven its sustainable potential to reduce the cement sector's environmental impact from its current level of 8% of global CO₂ emissions.
Imerys has just announced the selection of two key sites in the Allier region in France for its lithium extraction and transformation project, EMILI. This move is part of an ambitious initiative to strengthen the European battery industry for electric vehicles and contribute to the energy transition.
