The ink industry has been emphasizing sustainability, whether it is improved inks or meeting new regulatory standards, and suppliers are working closely to meet these needs. Leading additives suppliers are seeing growth while also developing new products with an eye on current and future requirements. “Micro Powders had a robust 2025 with a strong sales bounce back from the 2024 ‘destocking’ period that most of the industry experienced after the overstocking of 2023,” said Rich Czarnecki, VP, Micro Powders. John Kwasneski, director of sales, coatings, construction and adhesives for Munzing, said that 2024 was another year in which Munzing monitored and reacted to the growing impact of regulatory changes which drove formulation changes in a wide variety of end markets. “Two examples are our large portfolio of mineral oil- and siloxane-free defoamers with broad FDA and European food regulatory compliance and the PTFE-free, solid and liquid wax additives that offer similar properties in high performance inks and coatings,” Kwasneski added. Susanne Struck, global segment head market segment inks, coating additives for Evonik, noted that for Evonik, 2024 has been a good year of recovery from a weaker 2023 and achieving additional growth. “With our expertise and strong focus on the ink industry, we are optimistic of being able to continue successfully enabling innovation with our customers,” Struck added. Keith Condon, national sales director, Gehring Montgomery, said that Gehring Montgomery Inc. and TER Chemicals have fared very well in the US. “Our best sales year was in 2022, but in 2024 we will exceed our expectations and surpass our sales in 2022,” said Condon. “We have expanded our sales force with new and talented engineers. Our wax sales are at an all-time high due to having superior performance, value and product availability. The access and product availability have been key this year. “We have a very diversified product portfolio with PE, PP waxes, micronized blends, carnauba, paraffin, montan, rice brand, candela, and the new Vestowax Fischer Tropsch FT lines that TER Chemicals offer. With all our lines referenced, this makes us the World of Wax experts,” added Condon. Alex Radu, technical service manager for Shamrock Technologies, said that overall, 2024 was a solid year for the additives business in graphic arts. “Regulatory restrictions and safety compliance were the main factors for change and creativity; this allowed new generations of additives to be developed and commercialized,” Radu added.

Sustainability and Additives

Not surprisingly, all of the additives manufacturers Ink World spoke with pointed to sustainability as an important driver in discussions with ink companies. “Sustainability has evolved from a buzzword and a checked box to being a vital feature of all business segments,” Radu said. “Sustainability is motivation for bringing change to the world of commodities, allowing for wider breadth and diversification in the additives market.” “There is a genuine effort to improve ink production sustainability to include the use of renewable energy sources, eco-friendly ingredients such as vegetable-based and soy-based inks, sustainable production practices, and investing in carbon offset programs. Both our CHT and Ceronas manufacturing sites and product lines have implemented many of these best practices already,” added Condon. Czarnecki observed that the graphic arts market is certainly one of the most progressive in terms of interest in more sustainable and naturally sourced ingredients. “Our NatureTex line of matting and texturing powders is the newest addition to our portfolio of highly sustainable additives,” Czarnecki said. “To meet increasing demand, we continue to grow our bio-based and biodegradable offerings.” However, cost remains an issue. “Companies are interested in sustainability; however the message is clear, no additional cost,” Kwasneski said. “Munzing is steadily growing our portfolio of cost-effective additives based on sustainably sourced and renewable raw materials. We have been ahead of the curve in our support of improving our corporate impact on the environment in all aspects and some of our more prescient customers have built formulas using our additives that are ready to comply with expected regulatory changes in the use of sustainably sourced products.” Struck reported that sustainability is definitely a key topic in the ink industry. “In particular, the topic of recycling is currently a major driver for innovation in the packaging and ink industry,” Struck said. “Europe is the frontrunner here with the new Packaging Waste Directive and clear regulation to increase the amount of recycled raw materials used, but this trend is growing globally. “The trend to mono-material packaging has increased the need for barrier coatings and the move to more recycling and use of recycled materials in high-quality applications, requires easier and more complete deinking,” Struck added. “Evonik is focused on new raw materials to support ink producers on these trends. As an example, we will soon be launching a new co-binder to improve deinking.” Tyler John, technical sales manager, Gehring Montgomery, noted that as a new regulatory landscape and post-COVID economy takes shape, there is increased willingness to test new technology. “With key materials like PFAS being phased out or banned, ink manufacturers are working diligently to fill the void that was created in a very short space of time,” John continued. “This translates into clients not only wanting products with equivalent performance but also high regulatory compliance, even in applications where such compliance isn’t especially needed. There is definitely an emphasis on heading off any future bans that would lead to costly and time-consuming reformulation initiatives.”

Regulatory Concerns

Regulatory concerns go hand-in-hand with sustainability, with packaging inks being a particularly sensitive topic. Struck noted that the ink industry has always been very sensitive to regulatory concerns, especially when it comes to food packaging. “Food contact regulations globally are getting tighter and tighter, with more and more substances needing to meet enormously low migration limits,” Struck said. “For us as an additive supplier to this industry, this creates the need for continuous regulatory monitoring, review and optimization of our existing portfolio as well as considering these migration limits very early in our product development. Although this requires a lot of effort, we view it as an opportunity.” “Our team of ink industry experts, from formulation chemists to sales and marketing to experts in monitoring new and proposed regulations, closely track the growing performance demands your customers place on you,” Kwasneski said. “A particular challenge area is to formulate barrier coatings for paper to replace thin film plastic in numerous packaging applications. We are actively working with ink producers to help them create proprietary, robust coatings to help paper converters produce water vapor, grease and oil resistant products.” Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are very much on the mind of industry. “Right now, the topic is PTFE replacement,” Czarnecki said. “Micro Powders will exit the PTFE-based additive market by the end of 2025, and we have been quite successful at qualifying and approving replacement products from our nanocomposite was series. In particular, MP-28AL has excelled due to a great combination of performance and economics.” “The EU commission has released a Restrictions Roadmap as part of the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability,” Condon said. “Being part of the EU’s zero-pollution ambitions under the new Green Deal, on Oct. 18, 2021, the EPA administrator announced the agency’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap – laying out a whole-of-agency approach to addressing PFAS. “Our Ceronas wax lines have been on the cutting edge of technology and have adapted well to the changing regulatory requirements,” Condon said. “Combining both European and German technologies, we have been at the forefront of developing PTFE-free and PFA-free related compounds for the last three years or more. Our mju:wax 2002FN is an industry standard for being one of the best PTFE-free waxes. Widely used in the graphic arts, paints, coatings, and plastic industries, our mju:wax 2002FN actually preforms better than a wax that contains PTFE.” John Jilek Jr., president of Inksolutions, noted that in terms of sustainability, the focus was first on larger quantities. “That was accomplished by many who moved on to focus on lower percentage items,” Jilek observed, adding that Inksolutions year developed a high solids release agent for packaging of inks and raw materials this year. “In the last few years, there has been continued focus on SVHCs, PFAS, and microplastics from regulatory bodies in various states and countries,” Radu said. “As a global manufacturer spanning multiple geographic areas, each with its specific regulations, it can be challenging for us to stay on top of all regional requirements. In response, Shamrock Technologies has been working towards identifying the most conservative regulations and creating a class of additives to meet those mandates. “To stay ahead of customer needs and regulatory requirements, the chemists at Shamrock Technologies have broadened our product offerings to include RC, bio-based, and microplastic-free options for our customers,” Radu added. “Two examples include CeraSPERSE 174-RC for press performance in heatset inks, and BioSLIP 222 as an alternative to microplastics in sheetfed inks.”