With an eye on manufacturing pigment dispersions for its expanding water-based pigment inkjet ink business, FUJIFILM Imaging Colorants, Inc. (FFIC) is planning on spending $19 million to construct a new production plant for pigment dispersions. Construction will start in April 2021 and is scheduled for completion by 2022.

FUJIFILM notes that there is a growing need to use water-based pigment inkjet inks, which have a low environmental impact and the potential to meet requirements for food packaging safety compliance.

FFIC Inc. in the US is a water-based inkjet ink manufacturing facility. By adding the new production plant for pigment dispersions, it will be able to produce consistent, fully-featured water-based pigment inkjet inks built with Fujifilm’s core dispersion technology.

To produce high-quality water-based pigment inkjet inks, technology that produces a stable dispersion of pigment in the ink is critical. The size of pigment particles in ink is around 100 nm and in an unstable ink, multiple pigment particles would aggregate and sink, resulting in printhead nozzle blockages during printing. To prevent this, the pigment particles in the ink must be in a uniform and stable dispersion.

Fujifilm's pigment dispersions are based on its "RxD (Reactive Dispersant)" technology, which cross-links polymer dispersants adsorbed on the pigment particles. The dispersant prevents desorption from the pigment, creating a very stable dispersion.

Fujifilm uses RxD dispersions not only for its inks but also supplies ink manufacturers around the world, and they are used in many water-based pigment inkjet inks.

Currently, the development and manufacture of pigment dispersions using RxD technology are limited to FUJIFILM Imaging Colorants Ltd. in Grangemouth, Scotland.

“RxD is a key technology for current and next-generation water-based inkjet inks,” said Ian Wilkinson, president and COO of FFIC Inc. “Expansion of our manufacturing capacity is part of a commitment to ensure we can meet the increasing demand to support our global customer base. We are already manufacturing a very high-quality, high-purity product in the UK. In this venture, we are using the design and project management expertise of our UK team to execute this project in the US.”