The market for chemicals used in papermaking has recently seen some difficult years with the closure of numerous production units and some major restructuring in the industry. Fine writing paper production has declined because of new "paperless" technologies. But, other papermaking sectors have developed and are expanding, for example papers used for hygiene and for packaging purposes. Also, the demand in emerging markets represents a good growth opportunity.  

It is this context and the multiplicity of different applications that brings Protex International, a French and industrial family group, to continue strategically (and in a focused way) into this niche area of papermaking chemicals.

 

Protex International Group has been active for more than 40 years in the papermaking industry. The Group invests 5% of sales turnover in R&D to develop products for papermaking and paper pulp producers, including sectors that produce specialty paper for "high-end" areas such as bank notes, a highly technical manufacturing "niche." Protex products developed in its R&D section have uses in all area of papermaking, including pulp production, deinking, paper machine wet-end operations, size press applications, and paper coating. 

The company is a market leader in fireproofing agents and sequestering agents for bleaching, products for making barriers, and release agents, while also optimizing the efficiency of its traditional activities of chemicals for paper. Protex works to "ecologize" its products so that they are "green-tech," with the aim of obtaining the best possible certifications such as FDA and BFR. 

With this in mind, a new insolubilizing agent containing melamine and also a very low concentration of formaldehyde has recently been developed. The content of formaldehyde is less than 0.1% and consequently, the product is not labeled under CMR. 

The paper activity of Protex International has been enhanced via the recruitment of new salesmen and the Group is preparing for the future by recruiting engineers who specialized in the field of paper chemistry. 

An ambitious program of Capital Investments under the "Synthron 2020" Project has been launched and the program will continue for several at the Synthron industrial site in France, with prime objectives based on modernization and upgrading existing installations and increasing production capacity. 

On its site in Saint-Avold, France, Protelor—a Group subsidiary—produces sequestering agents that are used in papermaking. 

Protex International has subsidiary companies in the U.S. and China, which are the area continents with the forecast for dynamic growth potential. The international structure of the Protex Group allows subsidiary companies of the group to share their know-how in paper chemistry, between their individual laboratories, to conceive new successful products based on their ecological and environmental plans, and also allows them to get closer to local customers. 

The Group has a desire to increase its presence at the big international fairs and shows by participating at PaperCon in Cincinnati this May, which is the industry’s biggest show globally for paper and pulp.

The U.S. subsidiary Northern Specialty Chemicals will exhibit during the next PaperCon2016 and introduce the range of flame proof agents used to slow down or interrupt the combustion process. These agents are applied to coated papers for publicity posters, kraft paper for insulation, paper filters for paint, oils, air, internal honey combs structures for building, etc.

«We aim at developing a business with sustainable solutions for the papermaking industry, by positioning ourselves in markets from fibers to papers, from packaging and cardboards to covers, from adhesives to specialist papers in our local French market, and in the countries where we are located. In this field, the formation of scientific partnerships on relevant subjects and the completion of small acquisitions are our daily objectives and we are open to all of the changes and developments of the market with the emphasis being more and more on green products," said Robert Moor, CEO of Protex International.