Tracking Toner Trends

As more printers embrace digital presses, toner is becoming the new ink. Toner technology continues to improve, and digital output reaps the benefits of superior consumables. Worldwide retail revenues (hardware, media and chemistry) from digital presses, which totaled more than $1.25 billion in 2004, will exceed $1.9 billion in 2009, forecasts I.T. Strategies—a compound annual growth rate of 9%. The bigger growth (24% CAGR) will come from desktop color laser printers, with revenue expected to jump to nearly $44 billion over the next three years.

“The color EP [electrophotographic] market continues to be driven by toner and by growth in desktop color laser printers, which continue to replace older monochrome devices,” says Marco Boer, a consulting partner with I.T. Strategies.

The properties, composition and the production of dry and liquid toners have been evolving for some 50 years. As this issue of GAM went to press, digital print suppliers were among the attendees at the Information Management Institute’s 9th Annual Toner & Imaging Conf. (Feb. 6-8) in Florida. Held in conjunction with IMI’s Laser Printing Conf., “The Future of Toner & Imaging Raw Materials” delved into expanded applications and improved print quality, including higher resolutions.

To meet increased demand for its Simitri Polymerized Toner, Konica-Minolta is doubling capacity this year. The company broke ground in Japan last fall on a third plant (a $64 million investment), with full production—7,000 tons annually—of black and color toner set to commence this December.

Simitri Polymerized Toner is produced in a proprietary method whereby 100-nanometer resin particles are synthesized through emulsion polymerization. (Polymerization is a chemical reaction in which two or more molecules combine to form larger molecules that contain repeating structural units.) The particles are then chemically, finely and slowly coagulated and fused with a coloring agent. It is characterized by tiny, uniformly sized particles (between three and seven microns) that excel in colorant and wax dispersion, yielding sharper lines and smoother gradations.

Xerox has moved into nano-fabrication with its Emulsion Aggregate (EA) technology, another recent development in dry-ink toner. EA Toner particles are micro-encapsulated in polyethylene spheres or beads. “EA Toner lays down more evenly, like BBs, resulting in more uniform imagery, finer lines and higher resolutions,” explains Henry Freedman, GAM’s technology editor and publisher of Technology WatchTM newsletter. Machines consuming EA Toner are highly efficient, featuring faster warm-up times and less waste generation. “And because devices using EA require less toner,” says Freedman, “they require less heat energy to fuse the toner, which also melts faster.” He notes a related benefit: The fuser lasts longer.

EA technology is being used increasingly by Xerox, which holds more than 100 related patents. (It’s employed in models of DocuColors and Phasers.) EA Toner is chemically grown from the molecular level to precise shapes and sizes, eliminating the pigment pulverization and selection process required to mill traditional toner. Late last year, Xerox began constructing a $59-million, 120,000-sq.ft. production plant in Webster, NY, to manufacture more EA Toner. The facility will be up and running some time in 2007.

As reported last month in our e-GAM electronic newsletter, about 70% of Xerox revenue comes from non-hardware business, including toner, click charges and leases. For HP, printer cartridges represent some 66% of profits.