The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has conferred its Environmental Best Practices Award for 2012 on BILT Graphic Paper Products Ltd (BGPPL) for the ‘most innovative environmental project.’ The award was presented for Carbon sequestering at BGPPL’s unit at Ballarpur which has installed a unit to precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) used as a filler in the paper industry.
Minerals Technologies and BILT entered into an agreement to build the 65kt a year satellite PCC facility at BILT's paper mill at Ballarshah in the state of Maharashtra, India, in 2009. The satellite facility uses carbon dioxide from the paper mill in the production of PCC. A total of 127 industries in India participated in the awards process with 250 projects reviewed.
PCC is a specialty pigment for filling and coating high-quality paper. By substituting PCC for more expensive wood fibre, customers like BILT are able to produce brighter, higher quality paper at lower cost. Minerals Technologies originated the satellite concept for making and delivering PCC on-site at paper mills and the concept was a major factor in revolutionizing North American papermaking from an acid to an alkaline-based technology. Minerals Technologies constructed its first PCC satellite plant in 1986. Today, the company has 56 satellite plants in operation or under construction around the world and continues to lead the industry with consistent quality and technical innovation.