Omya operates nearly two dozen PCC plants at paper mills around the world. Finch Paper is Omya's third paper mill in North America. Finch President and CEO Joseph Raccuia noted that "Omya has developed proprietary operating techniques that, combined with new investments we are making in our own plant, will take our operations to a whole new level."
In a unique arrangement, the team of Finch employees will continue to operate the PCC plant. Omya employees will be on-site on a regular basis, training the Finch PCC team in the advanced operating practices.
"The Finch operators not only understand PCC, but also have an intimate knowledge of the papermaking process," Omya Regional Sales Manager Tim Bradley said. "Their holistic approach is a definite advantage in terms of quality, speed, and cost."
Precipitated Calcium Carbonate is used to fill gaps between the fiber in a sheet of paper. The "filler" contributes to important paper characteristics such as brightness, opacity, and bulk. PCC is formed by adding carbon dioxide gas to lime and water. Producing its own PCC is more economical for Finch than buying this ingredient, but also enables the company to capture and re-use 50 million lb/yr of carbon dioxide from its power plant rather than emitting the greenhouse gases into the air.
PCC can be formed in a variety of particle sizes with varying surface characteristics to produce specific paper properties. The collaborative effort of Omya and Finch will augment the mill's ability to produce tailored solutions and further supports Finch's growth in the emerging transactional-promotional and print-on-demand book segments.
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