Nedmag and Imerys Enter Into Strategic Alliance to Cater to European Pulp and Paper Industry

LIXHE, Belgium, May 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Nedmag Industries (The Netherlands) and Imerys, the world leader in mineral-based specialty solutions for industry and namely to pulp and paper markets, announce their strategic alliance to develop and market magnesium hydroxide-based bleaching technology and products for a large variety of pulp bleaching applications.

Nedmag and Imerys are coming together to offer the European pulp and paper industry a novel and sustainable pulp bleaching technology. In addition to being environmentally-friendly, the technology also delivers cost savings by ensuring optimised use of magnesium sulphate, caustic soda, silicate and/or hydrogen peroxide in the recipes. Through their combined resources, the partners are in an excellent position to bring a unique combination of technology and application expertise to the pulp industry.

Multiple performance benefits can be achieved by using magnesium hydroxide in pulp bleaching. This includes higher brightness values, less COD/BOD burden (typically a reduction of 40% can be achieved), better pulp dewatering, and consequently higher yield and cleaner water circuits. Furthermore, magnesium hydroxide has a potential to very significantly improve productivity of paper machines and pulp production lines by reducing downtime for process equipment cleaning.

Mr. Alex Medendorp, Sales & Marketing Director of Nedmag, is excited about entering this new field of business and says:

"Throughout its history, Nedmag has a proven track record of successfully establishing leading positions. The setup of our company allows for ample availability of magnesium hydroxide, a prerequisite to deliver this demanding pulp industry. Recently we have strengthened our team with pulp and bleaching expertise, and with well-established partner like Imerys, we will be able to rapidly develop new and tailor-made process solutions to our pulp customers."

Mr Mikko Likitalo, Technology Director at Imerys, sees major synergies in Nedmag and Imerys coming together to cater to the European pulp and paper industry, and says:

"The competence of Nedmag to develop magnesium-based alkali for bleaching and for enhancing bleaching performance is a perfect match to Imerys' core competence of delivering products that improve runnability and optics in pulp and paper making."

By mid-July 2014, production line investment by Nedmag in its special grade of magnesium hydroxide, Mg(OH)₂pulp, will be complete. Industrial trial quantities of the product as well as development support have been available from Nedmag for some time already. The product

is delivered as a stabilised suspension. To ensure sufficient customer support resources, from now on the validation of the technology for new customers will be carried out by Nedmag's alliance partners. Imerys will ensure exclusive market and sales development of Mg(OH)₂pulp in most European countries while Nordic countries will continue to be carried out exclusively by Nedmag's well-established pulp distribution partner Banmark.

About Nedmag 

Nedmag has its base in Veendam, The Netherlands. It is the world-leading producer of high quality dead burned magnesium (DBM) for use in refractories. Nedmag's success is largely due to a unique salt layer, at a depth of 2,000 metres. It contains magnesium salt of unparalleled purity. For more information please contact Alex Medendorp, Sales & Marketing Director at a.medendorp@nedmag.nl or see http://www.nedmag.com.

About Imerys 

The world leader in mineral-based specialty solutions for industry, with €3.7 billion revenue and 15,800 employees in 2013, Imerys transforms a unique range of minerals to deliver essential functions (heat resistance, mechanical strength, conductivity, coverage, barrier effect, etc.) that are essential to its customers' products and manufacturing processes. Imerys serves the global pulp and paper industry through a network of industrial sites, sales offices and R&D centres spread across the globe. For more information please contact Mikko Likitalo, Technology Director at mikko.likitalo@imerys.com or see http://www.imerys.com

About Banmark 

Banmark Oy is a leading Finnish service company for the pulp and paper industry. During their years in business, Banmark has expanded their operations beyond the Finnish borders and holds strong positions in Russia, Sweden and Poland. For more information please contact Juha Lonka, Marketing Director at juha.lonka@banmark.fi or see http://www.banmark.fi.