Tissue World Magazine
Alexandra Stuthridge, Technical Business Manager, BioProducts Institute (BPI)

Specialty chemicals producer Clariant has launched Leucophor® ACK, which it said is “the world’s most highly-concentrated, urea-free liquid optical brightening agent (OBA)”.

The product can be used on unsized tissue, printing and writing papers, and it cuts usage and transport.

It is free of solubilising additives such as urea and glycols which can reduce paper machine performance.

Leucophor® ACK contains “no environmentally-harmful additives, decreases OBA requirements for papermakers, and lowers transport costs and carbon footprint”.

It is an ultra-concentrated aqueous solution specially designed to give state-of-the-art effectiveness while satisfying the most demanding environmental requirements.

The unique, patented, new generation urea-free optical brightener is primarily intended for stock application in sized and unsized papers.

Compared to current disulpho chemistries, the company said it shows improved performance on stock addition to both virgin and recycled fibre, and in pigmented coating applications, particularly those containing PVOH as a secondary binder.

It also allows greater flexibility and higher solids contents in CMC and starch/CMC pigmented coatings.

Andrew Jackson, product manager, Clariant, Business Unit Paper Specialties, said: “Sustainability is a clear trend, but at the same time papermakers do not want to sacrifice the technical and economic advantages of their operations.

“Leucophor ACK liquid satisfies an important need in the market, building sustainability on to the cost performance and ease-of-handling which customers have come to expect from Leucophor products.”

The product fulfills the requirements of Nordic Swan, EU Eco Flower and BfR.