New Elara: tailored additives for coatings, printing inks, and more

Print Solutions

hubergroup Chemicals is expanding its portfolio with a new brand of high performance additives: Elara. The launch marks a significant step in the company’s evolution from a supplier of printing ink raw materials to a comprehensive partner for the coatings, inks, and adhesives industries.

As markets demand higher performance, compliance with increasingly complex regulations, and greater sustainability, additives have become the silent enablers behind modern formulations. hubergroup Chemicals responds to this shift with Elara – a product range that combines scientific precision with practical usability across diverse application areas.

‘With Elara, we are taking another decisive step in our strategic transformation,’ said Premal A Desai, CEO of hubergroup. ‘We are expanding our horizons beyond traditional applications and positioning hubergroup Chemicals as a strong, future oriented partner for formulators worldwide. Elara stands for our ambition to shape chemistry responsibly while enabling our customers to innovate with confidence.’

Whether dispersion, wetting, process stability or surface quality – additives play a decisive role in the performance and reliability of modern coating and ink systems. With Elara, the company is consolidating its expertise in polymer and surface chemistry into a clearly structured, application driven additive platform.

The name Elara, inspired by one of Jupiter’s moons, symbolises stability, precision, and orientation within complex systems. Each product has been developed for a clearly defined function – delivering maximum impact both individually and as part of a perfectly balanced formulation.

Under the claim ‘Shaping chemistry. Expanding horizons.’, Elara brings together high performance dispersing and wetting additives tailored to the requirements of modern formulations, including:

• Elara Disperion 400: non aqueous dispersing agents for organic and inorganic pigments, carbon blacks, extenders, and matting agents. Designed for high pigment loading, excellent colour development, and robust process stability in solvent based, solvent free and UV/EB systems.

• Elara Disperion 500: aqueous dispersing agents delivering high colour consistency, reproducible quality and broad binder compatibility. Suitable for VOC free and biocide free formulation architectures in coatings and printing inks.

• Elara Wetora 300: versatile wetting agents for water based, solvent based, solvent free and UV curable systems. They improve substrate wetting, support uniform pigment incorporation and help reduce surface defects – even on challenging substrates.

‘Elara represents a new level of system understanding,’ said Franziska Trapp, technical marketing manager coatings at hubergroup Chemicals. ‘Each additive line is developed with the formulator’s reality in mind – balancing technical performance, regulatory compliance, and processing efficiency.’

Many grades are solvent free or VOC reduced, aligning with global sustainability goals. At the same time, the portfolio is designed for broad compatibility across solvent based, water based, and UV curable systems, giving formulators maximum design freedom and security of supply.

From the outset, Elara is designed as a scalable additive system. A defined development roadmap includes the future introduction of defoamers, humectants and rheology modifiers. This creates a forward looking additive platform that addresses both current and emerging industry needs. The portfolio will be available globally from March 2026.