Additives are crucial for inks. The various additives, whether they are dispersants, slip/rub materials, foam control, rheology modifiers or others, help make the ink what it is.

Dr. Ulrike Canella, head of product development SF/UV at hubergroup, noted that the main additives hubergroup uses for offset inks are dispersing agents, waxes, and inhibitors.

“Dispersing agents guarantee good pigment dispersion and highest color strength, waxes ensure good rub resistance of the ink film and inhibitors extend shelf life of the inks,” added Dr. Canella. “When considering additives, we are analyzing which effects they have on the ink. We are, for example, looking for additives that guarantee good pigment dispersion, highest color strength, good rub resistance and the durability of the ink. In addition, regulatory aspects play a major role when it comes to food packaging applications.”

Liquid inks use some different additives.

“We use additives in a targeted way. The key to formulating with additives is to carefully evaluate their functionality. For our flexo and gravure inks, we use additives to enhance or achieve certain performance characteristics,” Dr. Lutz Frischmann, global product director flexible packaging for hubergroup, said. “The main additives in this context are waxes, silicones, adhesion promoters, and defoamers. For our water-based systems, we also use preservatives to ensure the shelf life of the inks.”

Ink additives are a sizable market. According to Verified Market Research (VMR), sales in the global ink additives market were $1.7 billion in 2021. VMR anticipates that the ink additives market will grow at a CAGR of 5.1% from 2022 to 2030, reaching $2.61 billion by 2030.

On the basis of regional demand, VMR has Asia-Pacific leading the ink additives market, accounting for around 44%, followed by Europe with approximately 25%, North America with ~20% and rest of the world with 11%.

In terms of volume, VMR places the market at 292,000 tons in 2020, with expected growth of 4.71% during the forecast period.

“Even though additives are used in smaller quantities i.e., around 5% of the ink formulation, they play an important role in printing ink formulations,” said Nikhil Pampatwar, head – research & intelligence for Verified Market Research. “In general, additives such as waxes, bonding agents, surfactants, and others are used to ensure better application of inks on the surface.”

MarketsandMarkets places the current size of global ink additives market as approximately $1.8 billion to $1.9 billion.

“We see moderate growth (5-6%) in the market over the next five years. The dispersing & wetting agents segment dominate the ink additives market (36-40% of global total in value terms) and is projected to be the fastest-growing type,” said Atul Yadav, practice lead, chemicals & materials research, MarketsandMarkets Research Pvt Ltd.

Based on the application, Pampatwar said that packaging is the largest as well as fastest growing application, owing to the high demand for ink additives in flexible packaging, corrugated packaging, and folding cartons.

“Packaging accounts for around 65-67% of the overall market for 2021 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.32% during the forecast period,” Pampatwar said. “The growth is likely to be driven by rising demand for inks in food packaging, beverages, cigarette packaging, pouches, bags and lamination designs. Furthermore, rising demand from narrow web and tag & label printing segments is supporting overall market growth.”

Sustainability and Ink Additives

Sustainability is extremely important for all businesses, including inks and ink additives.

“Sustainability generally is a key factor for us when formulating inks,” Dr. Canella observed. “Whenever possible, we source our additives from our Chemicals Division, which enables us to ensure a sustainable value chain.

“Due to regulatory changes, there have been some changes in additives in offset inks. At the moment, for example, there are discussions around PTFE wax, so we are in the process of replacing it in our formulations where technically possible,” Dr. Canella pointed out.

“As with all raw materials we use, it is important to us that additives contribute to our sustainability strategy,” noted Dr. Frischmann. “We have certified a wide range of our products with a Cradle-to-Cradle certificate to prove their suitability for the circular economy. Hence, all components used have been assessed and are consequently monitored.”

“Ink additives manufacturers are looking for sustainable raw materials to reduce hazards associated with the conventional ink additives,” said Pampatwar. “Sustainable ink additives offer superior performance and creates lesser environmental impact. These inks are made from the natural source such as plant, vegetables, etc., that are a bit more expensive than ink additives from petroleum. “As the prices of raw materials such as crude oil keeps fluctuating, the profit margins of the additives manufacturers get impacted,” Pampatwar noted. “Printing ink companies are constantly showing interest in removing chemicals, especially for food and pharmaceutical related packaging inks.”

“Changing environmental regulations are impacting the additives market,” Yadav noted. “Stringent regulations have a strong influence on the end-use industries. The European and North American manufacturers are making efforts to reduce VOC emissions by using materials that have a low environmental footprint, thus impacting the growth of the ink additives market negatively.

“The shift toward sustainable and low-cost additives has negatively affected the demand for conventional additives,” Yadav added. “On the other hand, in emerging countries such as India and China, environmental regulations are not stringent. The printing inks manufacturers focus on producing inks with conventional additives. However, this is expected to change over the next few years with the emergence of stringent regulations in these regions.”

Raw Material Concerns

It is no surprise that the printing ink industry has significant cost challenges.

Pampatwar pointed out that manufacturers find crude oil more appealing since it is less expensive than biodegradable sources like castor oil, canola oil, or sunflower oil. The majority of the surfactants used in additives, including wetting agents and dispersants, come from crude oil.

The pricing of many crude oil-based raw materials is impacted negatively by the unstable volatility of crude oil prices. The costs of all the main raw materials used to make ink additives, including propylene, ethylene, and benzene, as well as their byproducts acrylic and styrene, are volatile.

“The availability of raw materials and cost issues have put significant pressure on the ink industry across the world,” Pampatwar observed.

“There have been severe weather issues that caused plant shutdowns in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic and supply disruptions,” Pampatwar added. “Additionally, challenges related to logistics and transportation, such as rising container costs, are having a significant negative influence on prices and generating delays in schedules.

Yadav noted that since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the prices of raw materials required for manufacturing additives have been very volatile.

“At the start of 2020, the production across various industries came to a halt, leading to a drop in raw material requirements,” Yadav reported. “There was a huge supply-demand gap in the initial quarter of 2020, with prices dropping during this period. Raw material manufacturers decreased their production output due to production halts as the demand decreased for end products.

“When the production of various end products restarted, there was a huge spike in demand for raw materials, leading to a gradual increase in prices over time,” added Yadav. “This was due to the high reliance of manufacturers on Chinese imports, which were affected due to supply chain disruptions during lockdowns. Initially, the price rises were being absorbed by end-users and were not being passed on to their customers to maintain their volume sales.

Pampatwar pointed out that concerns about raw materials have been ongoing for a while now, long before the COVID-19 outbreak.

“These disruptions were typically restricted to a small number of distinct components, like titanium dioxide and photoinitiators,” he added. “The demand of raw material in the ink additives market is increasing for materials while supply remains limited during the forecast period.”

“Several force majeure events on the market have further restricted supplies and made an already precarious situation worse,” added Pampatwar. “Printing ink and coating manufacturers are increasingly impacted by fierce competition for materials and resources as prices rise and availability becomes scarcer. Companies also have to pay more for shipping as well as the price of supplies and raw materials.”