Spain. Archroma has officially opened its new Global Competence Centre for Whiteness in Prat, near Barcelona.
The Centre, which opened on 5 July 2018, underlines Archroma's ambition to offer innovative whiteness and gloss solutions to the specialist paper and packaging markets.
Together with the Global Competence Centres for Dyes (Reinach, Switzerland) and for Surface and Coating Technology (Bradford, UK), the new Global Competence Centre for Whiteness in Prat forms a unique network of experts fully dedicated to the development of innovative product packages to support their customer production process with integrated system solutions.
Whiteness and gloss solutions for paper can be achieved with optical glossing agents complemented with dyes and shading pigments. Therefore, the new Global Competence Center for Whiteness is ideally located in Prat, where Archroma has the main dye manufacturing plants and OBA (optical lighting agent), recently expanded with additional tetrasulfonated OBA production.
The investment is the second step in a development plan initiated with the extension of the aforementioned OBA plant, with more investments to come.
The Global Competence Center for Whitening team will work closely with Archroma's innovation organization and sales teams around the world, ensuring the relevance of new solutions and innovations in the local market, both in terms of performance and sustainability.
Over the past few years, Archroma has launched several eco-advanced innovations in the area of whiteness, such as Leucophor MT liquid, a modified OBA, REGISTERED REACH, urea-free, tetrasulfonated that offers paper manufacturers a new cost-effective option to achieve high levels of whiteness in a surface application, especially in the gluing press, and more recently in the North American market; Leucophor ACK liquid, an ultra-concentrated, urea-free disulfonated OBA for brilliant whiteness in stock and coating applications.
At the opening ceremony held on July 5, 2018, Andrew Jackson, Product Manager OBAs, Archroma Packaging & Paper Specialties, commented, "At Archroma, we continually challenge the status quo with the deep conviction that we can make our industry sustainable. As the paper market has been changing and transforming in recent years, we see a growing demand for chemical solutions that support sustainability. And as consumers increasingly look for safer and more environmentally friendly options, Archroma is committed to helping its customers answer the call, and that clearly includes making sure whiteness solutions are designed accordingly."
