Resins are crucial to ink formulation, providing essential characteristics to the inks. Not surprisingly, the market for ink resins is sizable; Aseem Pathan, senior consultant at Persistence Market Research, said that Persistence Market Research tentatively estimates the global market size for ink resins to be approximately $6 billion in 2019.

“As of now, the Asia Pacific region continues to dominate demand, with China being the leading market,” added Pathan. “The region is also the one with the fastest expected growth rates in the next few years. Europe and North America continue to remain promising markets for resins for the ink industry.”

Resins differ depending on the ink type, whether it is solvent-based, water-based, oil-based or energy curable inks. Pathan said that modified rosin, acrylic and polyurethane resins are finding significant traction in the market in terms of resin types.

“Leading players in the market are focusing on developing formulations with targeted application pertaining to the substrate types (paper, metal, plastic etc.), printing technology types (gravure, flexographic, etc.) so as to gain competitive advantage with clients,” added Pathan. “Solvent-based formulations are still widespread in the industry. However, water-based products are posing an ever-growing challenge to the traditional
product types.”

Pathan observed that business continuity has been one of the biggest challenges faced by the resin industry in the past year given the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Demand for inks going for publication applications bore the brunt of the crisis, with volume requirements spiraling downwards, the impact of which was felt by the ink resin manufacturers,” Pathan noted. “However, the skyrocketing demand for ink for packaging applications (particularly for food packaging and medical and healthcare packaging) more than offset the downfall in the publication sector. An already tight supply of key raw materials was stretched further during the crisis; however, the industry gradually developed enough resilience to face the task at hand.”

Without a doubt, raw materials are a huge concern for resin suppliers and their ink customers. For example, in February 2021, Ingevity announced a 10% to 15% price increase for tall oil rosin and tall oil fatty acid products, which the company attributed to strong market demand and increasing raw material costs. Feedstocks are another area of concern.

“Supply shortages of key ingredients have been bothering the market for the past couple of years, with a mix of capacity, regulatory and larger macro-economic factors coming into play,” Pathan reported. “The chain of events is often complicated with events in one industry having a domino effect on the other. For illustration, the slowdown in the oil and gas sector sparked production cuts and even outright shutdown of ethanol from various players in the US and other regions. Coupled with the unprecedented lockdowns in many regions, ethanol shortages exacerbated in many demand markets, including Europe. Ethanol being a key ingredient in various solvent-borne ink formulations, the impact was felt on the ink industry as well. The uncertainty created by the pandemic has made it difficult to forecast near term supply fluctuations, and the outlook remains challenging even in the best-case scenario.”

Resins and Their Role in Inks

In speaking with ink manufacturers, resins are responsible for the key properties of inks. Dr. Nikola Juhasz, technical director of sustainability for Sun Chemical, said that resins play a critical role in binding the ink components and in delivering the needed physical and chemical properties of the final ink and dried ink film, including rheology, resistance, adhesion and gloss.

“Resin selections are made with these critical application performance requirements in mind,” added Dr. Juhasz. “In addition to attributes needed for the original application, we increasingly focus on product sustainability and end-of-life considerations. Here resin selections also come into play, that is, how renewable, compostable and/or recyclable are the resin chemistries? By offering more sustainable ink solutions, we better meet brand owner and consumer demands.”

Dr. Lutz Frischmann, global product director flexible packaging, hubergroup Germany, said that hubergroup has clearly defined key aspects for considering resins for its inks. “These are performance, reliability and sustainability and efficiency,” Dr. Frischmann added.

“Since we are further focusing on food packaging, the requirements for resins are increasing constantly in order to fulfill the regulations for the Food Contact Material (FCM) sector,” added Ulrike Will, head of product development SF and UV, hubergroup Germany. “For the UV sector, we need more specific resins to fulfill individual inks properties. We use less inert resins compared to the sheetfed segment instead. In offset printing, for example, we prefer resins that are based on renewable raw materials like rosin.”

Dr. Evan Benbow, VP – product technology and solutions at Wikoff Color, said that performance and sustainability are critical in sourcing resin.

“Performance is always the main driving force in our resin selections, whether it be performance or end of life applications, like enabling recycling of plastic films,” Benbow said.

Resins and Sustainability

With sustainability concerns becoming top of mind across industries and markets, Dr. Juhasz noted that there has certainly been increasing interest in more renewably sourced materials, including the binder resins used in ink formulations.

“Sun Chemical is adapting our product portfolios to incorporate more of those resins as alternatives to conventional petroleum-derived materials,” added Dr. Juhasz. “There is also general interest in our markets to better understand the carbon footprint of different ink technologies.

“These are complex questions and answering them correctly requires detailed life cycle analyses of not only the inks but also the upstream sourcing and the downstream printing, packaging application and end-of-life considerations,” Dr. Juhasz noted. “Sun Chemical offers a broad portfolio of more sustainable options across all its technologies, whether solvent-, water- or energy-curable inks.”

Dr. Benbow said that sustainability conversations are happening more frequently, with those conversations geared more toward end of life for the printed product.

“Due to the emphasis on sustainability, we are now asking for products that contain sustainable building blocks and can perform for the application in mind,” Dr. Benbow said. “We have looked into a great number of natural products but they do not always behave like their petroleum-based counterparts that the industry requires.

“With plastics being thrust into the spotlight, ensuring our products can be recycled properly is of great focus and we have seen promising results with energy-curable technologies for this market,” Dr. Benbow added. “With regards to compostability, we see water-based chemistries playing a greater role. We have begun to see more synthetic polymers built from natural raw materials being introduced where performance and sustainability can be balanced.”

Dr. Frischmann said that hubergroup has seen a slight shift in terms of recyclability and compostability.”

“Sustainability is an important factor in sourcing resins,” Dr. Frischmann said. “Our objective is to offer our customers sustainable solutions, thus also our raw materials have to fit into our sustainability strategy.”

Dr. Juhasz observed that sustainability is a key decision factor in sourcing resins, from a few different perspectives.

“First, the sustainability characteristics of the resins themselves are important” Dr. Juhasz continued. “Sun Chemical is continuing to advance our portfolio of bio-renewable and biodegradable inks, coatings and adhesives, and the availability of the appropriate enabling raw materials, including especially high-performance resins, is key.

“Second, the sustainability of the resin supply chain is also critical,” Dr. Juhasz noted. “Sun Chemical is engaged with our suppliers to confirm that their sourcing strategies and operations are consistent with the highest standards of sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Working with suppliers on sustainable procurement, together with keeping a focus on sustainability of our own operations, ensures that Sun Chemical does its part from cradle-to-cradle to respond to the industry, retailer and consumer demand for more eco-friendly product offers, and from cradle-to-grave in terms of designing products suited for recyclability and/or compostability.” 

BASF
We Advance Our Customers’ Formulations with Our Passion for Chemistry
We bring printing solutions to the packaging industry that are differentiated, innovative and sustainable. Our broad product portfolio of dispersions, resins, and additives allow customers to achieve high-quality printing results.
www.basf.com


Diransa SRL
We Invite You to Know Our Products, and Choose the Best Option for Your Project
Diransa SRL is an Argentinean manufacturer of solid resin, emulsion polymer and chemical specialties for different industries. Since 1972, Diransa is committed to the development of high-performance water-based polymers for architectural coating, graphic arts, floor care and other applications. Our target is innovation, introducing permanently novel products giving solutions to our customer requirements.
www.diransa.com.ar


Lawter
Global Producer and Innovator of Biorenewable Resins for the Graphic Arts Industry
Founded in 1940, Lawter is a leading global producer of phenolic modified resins, maleic and fumaric resins, polyamides, various polyesters, and water-based resin dispersions.
Lawter is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Harima Chemicals Group of Japan. Our primary markets are printing inks, adhesives, and coatings.
www.lawter.com


Siltech
Silmer Reactive Silicones for Resin Modification
Siltech develops, manufactures and markets a full and unique line of organo-functional silicones.  With more than 25 years of experience, and two manufacturing facilities, we offer a broad portfolio of modified cationic, quaternary, alkyl and reactive silicones for many markets including alkyl quats for surface modification. 
Your Technology – Our Chemistry
www.siltech.com


Specialty Polymers
Customized Waterborne Resins for Ink
Founded in 1969, Specialty Polymers supplies emulsion polymers to paint and coating manufacturers of all sizes. The mission remains the same: provide the exact polymer to fit the customer’s needs, with a commitment to delivering the best service and support to the industry. Specialty Polymers offers polymers designed specifically for graphic arts and printing applications which provides companies with the opportunity to meet their market needs.
www.specpoly.com