Sustainable inkjet innovation: how Xaar embeds sustainability into its R&D strategy

Sustainability and efficiency are at the core of Xaar’s inkjet technology. These principles are not just added benefits – they are fundamental drivers of our R&D strategy. From the outset, our innovation is shaped by the need to reduce waste, optimise resource use, and deliver long-term benefits for our end users through the use of sustainable inkjet.

Sustainability + efficiency = innovation

At Xaar, we want to anticipate the pain points and challenges of our customers and develop inkjet technologies that address them. True innovation, in our view, means achieving reliability whilst enhancing both efficiency and sustainability, ensuring that our printheads create real-world value.

When I returned to Xaar a few years ago, discussions within our R&D team revolved around the future of sustainable inkjet technology and how we could push its boundaries. A key breakthrough came with our Ultra High Viscosity Technology, capable of reliably jetting fluids around approx. 1000 cP at ambient temperature (100 centipoises (cP) at jetting temperature) far beyond the industry’s current standard of 10-12 cP. However, we recognised that this capability alone wasn’t enough; we needed to translate it into tangible benefits for customers.

This led to the creation of our DIVA project – Demonstration of Increased Viscosity Advantages. Through extensive research, testing, and collaboration with ink manufacturers, we explored the full potential of high-viscosity fluids, and set out on a journey to understand what an increase in viscosity meant for end-user benefits. The results were game-changing. We found that these fluids allow for higher pigment loads and their high viscosity meant less absorption into substrates, reducing the total amount of ink required. This minimised material usage and drying energy – delivering a clear sustainability advantage as well as cost savings for customers.

To showcase these benefits, we hosted our ‘Seeing is Believing’ Open Day in November 2023, demonstrating how our technology enables higher colour density, improved print quality, and reduced environmental impact – particularly in corrugated packaging applications.

Sustainable partnerships

With this highly disruptive innovation, we needed true multi-partner collaboration to make it a reality – that’s why beyond our own R&D, Xaar’s commitment to sustainability is evident in the partnerships we have developed across a diverse range of industries. From electric vehicle (EV) batteries, to textiles and painting cars, the capabilities of inkjet - and specifically Xaar technology – is driving more sustainable processes across a range of applications.  

For example, we’re the first inkjet company to enter the EV battery sector with a printhead specifically designed for this application – setting new standards for coating technology. Our dedicated Xaar eX and Nitrox eX printheads use our Ultra High Viscosity Technology to jet advanced functional fluids at up to 1000 cP at ambient temperature (100 centipoises (cP) at jetting temperature), enabling superior UV coating performance, greater mechanical robustness, and enhanced dielectric strength to cope with the requirements of the new generation of high voltage EV batteries and energy storage systems. Operating these coating machines with higher viscosity fluids enables our customers to deposit a thicker coating in a single pass, reducing machine complexity and cost.

In the spirit of collaboration, our partners at Shifang are currently developing an innovative coating solution with an ink utilisation rate of over 99%, significantly reducing waste and improving the sustainability of the whole battery coating process, which is fantastic to see and only made possible with our technology.

We’re also helping to revolutionise automotive painting to provide significant environmental and cost-saving benefits. Traditional spray-painting methods can waste up to 40% of paint, leading to excessive material consumption and energy use. However, our partnership with Axalta, a global leader in coatings, and Dürr, an expert in automated painting systems, is changing this. Dürr is integrating its advanced robotic automation with Axalta’s pioneering digital paint technology, using Xaar’s sustainable inkjet technology to deliver precise, highly efficient paint application. This innovation is drastically reducing waste and saving time while ensuring high-quality, consistent finishes for car manufacturers, which would be extremely difficult to replicate using other technologies

Sustainability – proof in action

At Xaar, we don’t just want to claim sustainability benefits – we understand that we need to prove them. In collaboration with Swansea University’s Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating, we worked on a peer-reviewed study, published in the Journal of Coatings Technology and Research. The findings confirmed the transformative impact of our Ultra High Viscosity Technology and our Xaar Aquinox printhead when combined with innovative high viscosity water-based fluids developed by Nazdar.

Key takeaways from the research included:

• Colour density increased by up to 67% on coated white corrugated substrates, enhancing vibrancy and print quality.
• Lower ink consumption, with high-viscosity fluids requiring less ink to achieve the same intensity.
• Reduced drying energy, thanks to the minimal absorption into substrates.
• Improved efficiency and sustainability across a range of industrial printing applications.

By providing robust data on these benefits, the study cemented the role of our technology in shaping a more sustainable future for inkjet printing.

A step change in sustainable inkjet printing

As you can see, sustainability is not an add-on at Xaar – it is central to our mission and our R&D work. Our Sustainability Roadmap, built on four key pillars – Environment, People, Innovation, and Community – drives our ESG objectives and aligns every aspect of our work.

Through continuous innovation, strong partnerships, and validated research, we are proving that sustainable inkjet printing is not just possible, but integral to the future of so many different applications.