High price of alcohol – time for printers to give it away? News commentary by Andy McCourt

The spot price for IPA was around AUD$1,100 per tonne in June and today is approaching $2,500. World production is mostly in North America with the largest being the giant ExxonMobil plant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Shell and Dow Chemical also have huge plants in Texas.

IPA used as a direct solvent, such as in inks and fount solutions, has been a flat market for several years. According to The Chemical Innovations Group, about 46 per cent of IPA is used as a direct solvent. However, environmental pressures, solvent recovery and process substitution has forced IPA marketers to increase sales into other areas such as herbicides, agri-chemicals and the pharmaceutical industry where they achieve better prices. Additionally, China’s burgeoning printing industry can hardly slake its thirst for IPA, which could otherwise be offered to Western markets.

The effect is a classic supply-demand imbalance and a trend for increased press chemistry prices, especially IPA. However, some local printers with long-term contracts are cushioned from the increases, but it may not stay that way. According to a letter sent out by Day International (parent of Varn) prices will rise if: “Raw material prices stay high or the Australian dollar exchange rate falls below 70 US cents by more than five per cent for three consecutive months.”

Varn’s General Manager Brent Stephen said, “ We don’t sell IPA but any raw material that is an oil derivative has increased in price. In addition to raw materials, packaging and transport costs have also been increased. We have assessed the affect on the costs of Varn products, looked at how we can reduce other costs and had to marginally increase prices. We are conscious of the competitive nature of the print environment and endeavour to minimize the affect to our customers.”

He added, “Increased IPA costs will present an opportunity for printers to re-assess
the benefits of their chemistry package on press.”

Group General Manager of Penfold Buscombe Printing, Les Jonas, commented “Whilst possible [press chemistry] price increases have been mentioned by suppliers, we have not experienced any real increases yet due to our negotiating 12-month supply contracts. However, not all printers may be in this position.”

DS Chemport’s Associate Director Ken Rendell says “Being owned by Fuji-Hunt, which has a very strict environmental policy, DCS does not offer IPA, but petroleum by-products have increased in price, with drastic increases in UV coatings. We are not seeing any real increases in the end-user market yet, but there are not many fixed-price contracts being offered. Overall, press chemistry prices are well below where they should be with most printers paying the same prices as five to ten years ago.”

JL Leonard’s General Manager, Norm Fizell said “Many printers are still using around eight per cent IPA in fount solutions and most of it is lost to evaporation. These printers are subjecting their staff to high doses of VOC emission. At JL Leonard, we see waterless printing as the answer, or the use of alcohol eliminating technologies. The web industry has been successful in this area. I can’t think of a web press still running with IPA dampening; if there are any, it’s very few.”

MY CALL

In 1999 Printing Industries, with the assistance of the NSW Environment Protection Authority, commissioned me to write a report into the use of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in the Australian printing industry (available from Printing Industries). Apart from IPA, the list is daunting.

What struck me then were the incredible advances, both chemical and mechanical, that are available to eliminate or drastically reduce IPA use. Forty to fifty per cent of IPA evaporates in (mostly uncovered) founts. Its flashpoint is low and is therefore a fire hazard and continued exposure to fugitive emissions is a health hazard.

Now the price of IPA might double, it could be a good time to rub it out from our industry. Rubbing alcohol is where IPA began in the 1920s, as one of the first commercial by-products of petroleum distillation. Its effective solvent and cleaning characteristics led to many other uses. But I can think of very few reasons why, in 2004 and in an environmentally and OH&S aware society such as Australia, we still need it for printing.

KBA has four very sound waterless press models on offer. Komori, Heidelberg and MAN Roland can all supply dedicated waterless presses. Presstek is a waterless plate system as used on DI presses. Toray has championed waterless printing for many years. IPA eliminators are in plentiful supply. Even older press models, according to DS Chemport’s Ken Rendell, can be made to run without IPA.

With IPA price hikes looming the entire industry could now ‘go on the wagon’ and eliminate this particular VOC from print production. Suppliers are doing their best to keep prices down but make no mistake, oil-derived chemistry must increase in price soon.