Higher whiteness multi-purpose papers in the USA drives growth in FWA market

Nalco's Chris Smith has written about the recent move by International Paper to increase the brightness of North American office paper (copier paper) and set a new industry standard for the USA. There is a disparity between the brightness (whiteness) of standard office papers supplied to the markets in Europe (and Asia) and those in the USA and Japan - the European and Asian markets demand significantly higher whiteness. Therefore, there was scope for International Paper to increase whiteness in the USA and to produce papers which could be competitively exported to Europe and Asia.

Producing paper at higher whiteness requires the use of more fluorescent whitening agent (FWA or OBA) and/or higher levels of bleaching, changes which can also impact on process efficiency. So, initially there were significant increases in costs, only some of which could be reduced by changes to raw materials and processes.

The effects of this move by International Paper have been:

• To set a new standard for whiteness in the USA for standard office papers (white, copier paper)
  
• To increase the consumption (market) of FWAs (OBAs) in the USA

The article gives a good account of the change to higher whiteness and case studies highlight the key issues.