Productivity and Quality to the Rotogravure ChainPresented by Mikko Likitalo (Global Vice-President, Technology) Chris Nutbeem, Janet Preston, Graham Pring

Outline

Imerys and the Rotogravure Industry Pigment effects on productivity Pigment effects on paper & print quality Conclusions

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Imerys and Imerys and Rotogravure Rotogravure

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Imerys Minerals Introduction The group supplies over 400 individual paper mill sites: 21% located in North America, 57% in Europe 22% in the rest of the world including Asia-Pacific. Over 20% of these individual customer sites purchase more than one category of pigment product from Imerys.

As of December 31, 2005, the Pigments for Paper business groups sales totalled EUR 755 million, contributing to 25% of Imerys' 2005 consolidated sales.

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Imerys Worldwide Pigment Production

PCC Production - 16 Plants ~900 mtpa Paper Capacity GCC Production - 29 Plants ~3000 mtpa Paper Capacity Kaolin Production - 4 Deposits ~3300 mtpa Paper Capacity

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Wide Variety of Pigment Options

Kaolins

Imerys has a broad portfolio in Kaolins, GCC and PCC. Imerys solutions for paper applications are founded on technical and economical optimisation based on in-depth multipigment understanding Imerys has the broadest portfolio in kaolins

Carbonates6

Pigment StrategyFocus is High Quality at Lowest Possible Cost Carbonate Onsite processing at the paper mills to reduce formulation cost Kaolin Efficient use of wide reserve base to produce required kaolin portfolio

Lower Cost Fit for Purpose Formulations7

Imerys and the Rotogravure Industry

Europe is the largest producer of rotogravure papers, with around one quarter of the 38.6 million tonnes of printing and writing papers that are produced in the region. Papers for rotogravure: 80% of European SC papers 35% of the European LWC

The SC and LWC rotogravure markets are of particular importance to Imerys due to the high suitability of our UK and Brazilian kaolin assets for these applications. The steady growth of rotogravure in Europe has prompted Imerys to invest specifically for this market segment.

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Imerys Pigment Sales to European RotoImerys 23%

Others 77%

Imerys is the largest single supplier with significant market share in European Rotogravure In excess of 500 kt pigment sales supporting ~2 million tonnes paper production Provides strong base for development to meet future needs in Rotogravure9

History of Innovation for RotogravureNew Imax New Imax 2006 2006

SCIntramax Intramax Intrafil Intrafil Filler M Filler M 1985 1985 Superclay Superclay

Capim SBF Capim SBF Intracarb Intracarb

Capim RG Capim RG Capim SP Capim SP

Suprasmooth 75 Suprasmooth 75 Suprasmooth 65 Suprasmooth 65

LWC

Imerys has continuously developed its filler and coating clays for SC and LWC Rotogravure applications over the past 10-15 years. We can now offer pigments with high brightness, high shape and steep particle size distributions and low abrasion.

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Imerys New Pigments for Rotogravure New Intramax filler products from UK New platform for cost-efficient production of 600 ktpa filler kaolin. 30m investment in energy-efficient high pressure drying technology in 2006/7. Improved optical and printing characteristics.

New coating and filling products from Brazil: Capim RG and Capim SBF Unbeatable runnability with high shape, brightness & coarse/steep psd Suitable for production of high brightness papers. Over 80 Million investment in refining capacity, energy efficient dewatering and logistics, Oct 2007.

Through continuous investment we aim to become an even more important partner to our paper customers

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Productivity Productivity

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Rotogravure Challenges: Controlling Papermaking Cost is KeyPapermaking Competitiveness Development Example of coated grade manufacturing costs100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40%Chemicals Personnel Energy Capital Other

Significant cost reductions without major process /technology changes is hardly possible !!!Chemistry 1/5 of Total Cost: 90 % Coating 10 % Other

50% Pigment 50% Polymers

30% 20% 10% 0%Chemical Pulp Wood

Raw Material and Energy Costs 2/3 of Total Cost

Pigment solutions need to focus on productivity as well as paper quality if cost-performance is to be maximisedSource Gron & Likitalo PTS 2005

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Productivity in SC Roto Papermaking

245 m

Runnability is Key Runnability Runnability Fast Dewatering Fast Dewatering High Filler Loading High Filler Loading Good Paper Strength Good Paper Strength Long Wire Life Long Wire Life

Filler Requirement Filler Requirement Coarse and Steep psd Coarse and Steep psd Coarse and Steep psd Coarse and Steep psd Steep psd Steep psd Low Abrasion Low Abrasion

Filler developments have sought to optimise these characteristics14

Abrasion of FillersWire Abrasion Relative to Chalk 200% 150% 100% 50% 0% Chalk Marble PCC Kaolin100% 69% 12% 730%

Einlehner Abrasion g/m2 Standard Intrafil C Imax 60 Capim SBF 60-120 50-70 40-60 10-20

Processing developments and development of fillers from naturally less abrasive reserves has led to kaolin fillers with exceptionally low abrasion.15

Productivity in LWC Rotogravure

Runnability in Coating and Finishing Runnability in Coating and Finishing Good Water Retention -- High Shape Factor Pigments Good Water Retention High Shape Factor Pigments Good High Shear Rheology -- Control of Fines Fraction Important Good High Shear Rheology Control of Fines Fraction Important Blade wear -- Mineral Purity is important Blade wear Mineral Purity is important Friction Control -- Mineralogy important Friction Control Mineralogy important

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Papermaking Productivity Potential Coating Process ImpactBlade Mechanical Pulp% De-inked Pulp% Kraft Pulp% Filler Amount% Base Raw Material% Coating Material % Energy% Total Net Efficiency% Production Line% 70 20 30 < 10 100 100 100 82 100 MSP 90 < 100 15 15 90 95 95 83 90

Base Paper

Production Costs

Investment Costs

MSP can give cost & productivity benefits in rotogravure Reduced strength requirement enables Roto quality to be produced with de-inked pulp and/or increased filler Imerys has pioneered pigment concept development for MSP Roto - currently in Industrial use

Source Gron & Likitalo PTS 2005

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Paper & Print Quality Paper & Print Quality

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Role of Pigments for Quality DevelopmentPigment Design PropertiesBrightness and Color Particle Size Particle Size Distribution Particle Shape, Morphology, Aspect Ratio

Performance AttributesSmoothness Porosity Strength Gloss and Coverage Brightness and Whiteness Opacity Ink Demand & Hold-out Missing Dots

Key variables are shape, size and steepness of distribution Key quality measures are optics and print quality19

Print Quality is CriticalImpression cylinder Paper web Gravure cylinder Doctor blade

Low viscosity ink

Key Properties Missing dots: Related to contact

Print Density & Ink Mileage: Related to ink penetration/pore structure

Print Evenness: Related to dot gain/pore structure20

Roughness and Surface Porosity is KeySmooth or Compressible Good Contact Low % Missing Dots

Low Porosity High density Low Ink Demand Good Evenness

Kaolin SF 30

Kaolin SF 10

Pigment shape is critical in controlling porosity and roughness in both coated and uncoated gravure Increasing brightness by using carbonate fillers and coating pigments puts greater emphasis on the kaolin to maintain printability.

GCC

High Porosity Low Density High Ink Demand Poor Evenness

PCC

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Ink Mileage & Print Density High surface porosity leads to poor print quality and increased printing costs. This is a particular problem in some high brightness formulations. Here use of the appropriate platey kaolin can help close the surface, while maintaining bulk structure for optics

Printed Carbonate Coated Paper

Printed Clay Coated Paper

Printed Clay/Carbonate Coated Paper

Ink penetration images taken using focussed ion beam analysis

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Multi-Pigment Concepts with Optimised Kaolins Can Give the Best Balance of Properties in High Bright SC

High Bright SCGCC

Calcined Clay PCC

Multi-Pigment Combinations Steeper, Finer, Platier Kaolin

Light Scatter

Standard SC

Increasing substitution of kaolin by PCC, GCC or calcined clay

Standard SC Kaolin

Low (Worst) High (Worst)

Sheet Gloss Ink Demand

High (Best) Low (Best)

Key trade-off is generating scatter and optics without adversely impacting gloss and ink demand

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Quality Balances in LWC Rotogravure Carbonates Kaolins combining shape, brightness & steepness can shift the quality balance (eg Capim RG, NP and SP)

High

Brightness

Key trade-off is generating brightness/Opacity without adversely impacting gloss & print quality.

Low Poor Gloss Smoothness Ink Density Missing Dots

Kaolin/Talc

Good

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Quality and Value for Rotogravure Grades Quality is in itself important: For example generating brightness in LWC is increasingly more important to maintain the quality differentiation between between coated and uncoated grades.

However, paper producers can also extract value from high quality raw materials for reducing total processing cost. For example: High shape kaolins in filling and coating can enable low cost carbonate use for similar printing performance and brightness at reduced total bleaching cost. Steep pigments can help paper strength enabling increased loadings or greater use of recycled fibre. High brightness fillers and coating pigments can always reduce bleaching costs.25

Conclusions Conclusions

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Summary Imerys has a long history of innovation & development of pigments for rotogravure applications backed up by a strong market position We understand the the role pigments play in controlling productivity and quality in filling and coating applications. This together with a wide portfolio of products and strong R&D has lead to pigment solutions that give clear value to the papermaker. Coarse kaolin fillers with low abrasion for acid SC Fine kaolin fillers for neutral SC High shape, high brightness coatings clays for LWC Complemented by a broad range of PCC and GCC products for coating and filling

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Future Challenges Energy Costs Increasing energy costs for pigment producers and paper makers together with a tendency to flat paper pricing will change the way in which pigments are developed and used.

Lower production cost The focus now is very much on how pigments can be used as part of an application concept to lower total paper production cost.

Corporate responsibility for sustainable development Increasing mineral content in papers as a tool for reducing production cost at equal quality, puts greater demands on pigment producers to develop viable technologies for pigment recycling

With our research and global resources, we are ready to meet these challenges

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Thank You! Thank You!

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