Venator’s Scarlino titanium dioxide plant acquired by Nuova Solmine; production to restart. LONDON (ICIS)—According to a letter sent to customers and seen by ICIS, Venator’s titanium dioxide (TiO2) plant in Scarlino, Italy, has been acquired by Nuova Solmine, a sulfuric acid producer based at the same site. The long-idled TiO2 plant is set to restart in January, with product sales commencing next month.
At the time of writing, neither Venator nor Nuova Solmine has provided direct comment.
This news marks a significant milestone in the restart of idled titanium dioxide (TiO2) capacity in Europe. The Scarlino plant—which has a nameplate capacity of 80,000 tonnes per year—was shut down several years ago due to environmental and waste-disposal issues, as well as market conditions.
Nevertheless, for the reasons mentioned above, the Scarlino titanium dioxide (TiO2) plant had been operating at reduced capacity for some time prior to this.
The acquisition has led to the creation of a new company, SOL.TIOX, which will produce and market sulfate-based titanium dioxide products from the Scarlino plant.
Nuova Solmine has long been the supplier of sulfuric acid and utilities to the Scarlino plant.
Over the past few months, the titanium dioxide (TiO2) and sulfuric acid markets have speculated about this potential acquisition and the prospects of the titanium dioxide plant resuming operations.
Market participants in both sectors remained skeptical, however, given the challenging conditions in the titanium dioxide (TiO2) market and the industry's ongoing profitability issues.
In the second half of 2025, Venator filed for bankruptcy across all its sites and operations.