New Silica Coating Pigment for Inkjet Papers from Mining Industry Sidestreams

Silica is commonly used as an ingredient in the coatings of inkjet papers because of its capability to provide a coating layer structure combining a high pore volume, into which all the applied inkjet ink can transfer, and a suitable pore size distribution for very quick ink absorption. Nowadays, the production of silica pigment is quite expensive, and therefore, it would be advantageous to find a cheaper raw material source. In this study, the raw material was Greek olivine from magnesite mine sidestreams. The silica pigment was produced at laboratory scale by using nitric acid as a solvent. The target of this work was to clarify how this produced silica pigment is suited for inkjet coating pigments. The coating colors were applied by a laboratory rod coater on fine base paper and white-top kraftliner, and the coated surfaces were printed with a home and office area inkjet printer. The results showed that the produced olivine-based silica pigment has a potential in matt inkjet coatings. The coating of the produced silica pigment increased the print density, decreased the print-through, and diminished the bleeding of fine paper and white-top kraftliner board. However, further development work is needed to improve the pigment brightness to a more acceptable level, and to control the particle size at the nitric acid dissolution.