Lithopone Market 

Australian researchers examined how titanium dioxide as a food additive affected gut microbiota in mice by orally administering it in drinking water. The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition in 2019, found the treatment could “alter the release of bacterial metabolites in vivo and affect the spatial distribution of commensal bacteria in vitro by promoting biofilm formation. We also found reduced expression of the colonic mucin 2 gene, a key component of the intestinal mucus layer, and increased expression of the beta defensin gene, indicating that titanium dioxide significantly impacts gut homeostasis.” The changes were then linked to colonic inflammation, along with a higher expression of inflammatory cytokines, which are signal proteins that help with regulation. The researchers concluded that titanium dioxide “impairs gut homeostasis which may in turn prime the host for disease development.”

The natural barite containing more than 95% of barium sulfate is mixed with anthracite in a ratio of 3:1 (mass), and is pulverized to a diameter of about 2 cm or less to enter a reduction furnace, and the front stage of the furnace temperature is controlled by 1000 to 1200 ° C, and the latter stage is 500 to 600 ° C, the reduction furnace rotates at a speed of 80s per revolution, the reaction conversion rate is 80% to 90%, the obtained barium sulfide enters the leaching device, the control temperature is above 65 ° C, and the content of barium sulfide is 701%, and then enters the clarification. The barrel is clarified and then added with zinc sulfate to control the zinc sulfate content to be greater than 28%, and the pH is 8-9, and a mixture of barium sulfate and zinc sulfide having a density of

This article discusses the discovery of phosphorescent lithopone on watercolor drawings by American artist John La Farge dated between 1890 and 1905 and the history of lithopone in the pigment industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Despite having many desirable qualities for use in white watercolor or oil paints, the development of lithopone as an artists' pigment was hampered by its tendency to darken in sunlight. Its availability to, and adoption by, artists remain unclear, as colormen's trade catalogs were generally not explicit in describing white pigments as containing lithopone. Further, lithopone may be mistaken for lead white during visual examination and its short-lived phosphorescence can be easily missed by the uninformed observer. Phosphorescent lithopone has been documented on only one other work-to-date: a watercolor by Van Gogh. In addition to the history of lithopone's manufacture, the article details the mechanism for its phosphorescence and its identification aided by Raman spectroscopy and spectrofluorimetry.