Products Water & Chemicals
Archroma introduces Leucophor MT optical brightening agent for high whiteness surface applications

Feb. 20, 2018 – Archroma, a provider of colour and specialty chemicals, today announced the introduction of Leucophor MT liq, describing it as a new tetrasulfonated optical brightening agent (OBA) modified to give high whiteness performance in surface applications.

The application of optical brighteners to the surface of paper is usually done by using either hexasulfonated OBAs, when high whiteness levels are required, or tetrasulfonated OBAs, when standard levels of whiteness are sufficient. With the increasing costs of some of the key raw materials needed to manufacture hexasulfonated OBAs, Archroma asked its R&D experts to develop a tetrasulfonated agent for surface applications that would give comparable levels of whiteness to hexasulfonated grades.

The outcome is Leucophor MT liq, a REACH-registered, urea-free, modified tetrasulfonated OBA that aims to give papermakers a cost-effective option to achieve high whiteness levels in a surface application, especially at the size press.