All rutile TiO2 pigment products by DuPont are manufactured using the modern chloride process, allowing for maximum purity and whiteness, and a reduced environmental footprint. DuPont is a well-established supplier of TiO2 to the paper industry, with a long history of building successful partnerships with our customers.

DuPont’s product offering for paper and paperboard applicationsRPS Vantage® is a slurry product specially designed for paper and paperboard applications. It is equally suitable for use in coating and wet-end applications. Special product features include optimised particle size distribution for maximum light scattering performance, excellent dispersion quality, long-term dispersion stability, and ease of handling and introduction to the papermaking process. From an ergonomic point of view, the use of RPS Vantage® slurry eliminates the need for paper mill employees to manipulate sacks of dry powder and the messy dust that can be potentially generated. As RPS Vantage® consists of the rutile form of TiO2, it offers 20–25 per cent better opacifying power than anatase TiO2 products.

DTT’s total offering to the paper industry extends beyond its pigment products to include a network of dedicated technical service specialists, equipment for paper machine trial support, and the DuPont Appearance Analyzer™ for reliable measurement of appearance uniformity of paper and paperboard products.

RPS Vantage® slurry is easy to use in a variety of paper applications. RPS Vantage® slurry has excellent rheology – high solids, low viscosity – and can be applied in the coating, the wet-end or a pigmented size press. Dosed into the wet-end, up to 80 per cent TiO2 retention is achieved for a 36g/m2 sheet of improved newsprint/directory paper, using a standard microparticle drainage and retention system.
Rutile TiO2 solutions for the paper and pulp industryRutile TiO2 provides advantages to paper producers in the following areas.

Operating flexibility

Increased operating flexibility in paper comes from the ability of rutile TiO2 to improve paper strength, stiffness and bulk by replacing a significant portion of mineral filler with a small amount of rutile TiO2 without sacrificing optical performance. If desired, the strength, stiffness and bulk improvements can then be traded off to improve other inter-related properties. For example, calendering could be increased to improve smoothness or coat weight could be increased to improve printed gloss. One European mill producing improved newspaper has reduced overall costs by replacing calcined clay and silica with RPS Vantage® and using the resulting strength improvement to replace softwood kraft pulp with de-inked pulp (DIP). Rutile TiO2 added the coating that enables the substitution of bleached pulp with recycled or unbleached pulps for cost reduction in coated paperboard products. High-quality folding boxboard can be produced by combining 100 per cent recycled fibres with a coating containing RPS Vantage®. Likewise, a low-cost recycled fibre mixture containing ink specks can be used while maintaining good board appearance and brightness by using RPS Vantage® in the coating. High yield mechanical fibre (e.g. BCTMP) can be used as an alternative to recycled fibre. In this case, the rutile TiO2 provides improved lightfastness because the ultraviolet light that causes yellowing of BCTMP is strongly absorbed by rutile TiO2.

Increased product range

Like plastic pigment, rutile TiO2 is a high-performance material that expands the range of products that can be produced from a limited set of raw materials. Lightweight papers with good optical properties can be made, enabling reduced postage costs while maintaining optical quality.
Addressing quality issues directly RPS Vantage® can be used to directly improve the opacity of coated and uncoated paper and improve the brightness and appearance uniformity of coated board. RPS Vantage® is also an effective means of boosting opacity when used in the pigmented size press.

For further information please visit:
www.titanium.dupont.com