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stone, this unit is conformably overlain by snow white, soft, fossiliferous limestone of Samalut Formation. Samalut Formation overlain by creamy white, mictritic, marly limestone of the Magha- gha Formation. This unit is conformably overlain by brownish yel- low, sandy, fossiliferous limestone of Qarara Formation. The top most part of Qarara Formation includes nodular, chalky, limestone of Fashn Formation. The studied sample was collected from El Minia and Samalut formations for laboratory examinations (Fig. 3).
3. Materials and methods
Thirty samples were collected from different localities along the area in between El Minia city and Beni Khalid to represent the studied limestone, the representative samples were ground to very fine particles for measuring the physical properties, chemical anal- ysis, and X-ray diffraction, and SEM studies. Carbonate samples were subjected to specific tests and evalua- tion compare with the international specification and standard to determine their suitability for alkaline paper and paperboard filler/coating manufacture. The assessment of ground calcium carbonate characterizations were conducted according to the following standards: Specific gravity ASTM D 153, Oil absorption ASTM D 234 and ASTM D 281, Water absorption, Moisture content ASTM D 280, Particle size, Particle shape, ASTM E 70 of Hydrogen ion concentration, ASTM D 2196 for Matter soluble in water: max 1%, Hardness, Appearance & Color of powder, Brightness, purity as CaCO3: 95%, Refractive index, SEM, chemical analysis, XRD, and soundness test. Standard properties of ground, precipitated and kaolin ores utilized in paper making are listed in Table 2 as a references for studied sample.
Fig. 1. Global production of paper and paperboard grades in 2008 (Finnish forest Industries 2009).
4. Results and discussions
Fig. 2. Breakdown of filler pigment used for paper making at 2002 (Harris 2004).
The physical and chemical assessment tests were accomplished for El Minia carbonate samples as follows: Calcium carbonate filler pigment represent a considerable part of paper manufacture, the amount of filler vary from 5% to 30% of the whole finish. Several reasons why fillers are used in paper- making, the main reasons are their low cost compared to fibers ‘‘The price of bleached chemical fiber is roughly five to seven times as much as filler prices” and their ability to improve optical prop- erties in the final product. Fillers can also improve surface proper- ties of paper and by that have a positive effect on the printability of the final product [10,11]. Also fillers can improve the surface properties of paper or paperboard as well as have positive effects on the opacity, bright- ness and colour. Opacity is increased because of filler particles scatter light very well [12]. Fillers also have a smoothening effect on the paper surface, because small filler particles settle in between of fibers they together form a smooth paper surface, which is required in roto- gravure printing. Although fillers are needed for good printing image, excessive amount of filler will compromise the paper sur- face strength. The chemical analysis of samples collected from El Minia areas were examined to ensure that the limestone samples used as a pig- ment are inert, stable and not contain detrimental impurities. The chemical analysis results revealed that the major elements is CaO, accordingly the CaCO3 content ranging from 99.30 to 99.65%. The physical and chemical analysis was conducted at the Egyptian Pet- roleum Research Institute and Egyptian Mineral resources Author- ity ‘‘Central laboratories Sector”, and the results obtained are illustrated in Tables 4 and 5. These testing for calcium carbonate powder were carried out according the following techniques and testing:
Table 1 Paper product and filler contents. 0–15% Newsprint 20–32% SC gravure paper 6–10% LWC base paper 8–15% Wallpaper
5–10% Mechanical catalogue 5–20% Wrapping base paper 10–25% Wood free printing paper 10–25% Wood free writing paper
2–10% Corrugated board 2–10% wallpaper board
Qena company with annually production about 120,000 tons, Al Ahlya (EMAC) with annual production 60,000 tons, and Rakta com- pany produces 30,000 tons [7] This article aims to contribute the utilization of El Mina huge quantities of high grade calcium carbonate and its suitability for making of filler/coating of paper and paperboard and stop the loss of hard currency used for importing the same ore.
2. Geological setting
EI Minia-Maghagha area has a rectangular shape and lies on the Eastern side of the Nile River. It is located between latitude 28 and 28 40 0 N and longitudes 30 50 0 and 31 30 0 E. The exposed carbonate rocks of El Minia-Maghagha areas includes five units of Middle Eocene age. These units are composed mainly of limestone [8,9]. The oldest exposed unit is El Minia For- mation which is composed of white, hard, and fossiliferous lime-
Please cite this article in press as: M.A.W. Gaber, Characterizations of El Minia limestone for manufacturing paper filler and coating, Egypt. J. Petrol. (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpe.2017.07.007
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