How do I combine several pigments?

Divide their combined invoice cost by their combined mass. Use that weighted price with the total pigment-group mass.

Where does a purchased pigment dispersion belong?

Place the complete supplied dispersion in the pigment group at its purchase price. Do not also enter its carrier in the vehicle group.

No, it is the cost per kilogram charged to the recipe. Milling and transfer losses change the cost per saleable kilogram.

The calculation cannot answer that. Evaluate color, dispersion, print performance and qualification requirements before substituting ingredients.

Coatings, Inks & Specialty Chemical Production calculator

Price the actual ingredients in your ink recipe before processing losses. Enter group masses and their mass-weighted invoice prices.

Calculate ink recipe material cost from weighed pigment, vehicle and additive groups with their respective purchase prices.

Pigment Group Mass: Total pigment or pigment-dispersion mass weighed into the recipe.
Pigment Group Price: Mass-weighted invoice price for the entered pigment group.
Vehicle Group Mass: Combined binder and carrier mass from the recipe.
Vehicle Group Price: Mass-weighted invoice price for the combined binder and carrier.
Additive Group Mass: Total additive mass from the formulation sheet.
Additive Group Price: Mass-weighted invoice price for the entered additives.

Best suited to comparing supplier quotes, reviewing an ink recipe.
Excludes milling, lab matching, yield losses, packaging and press trials. Cost does not establish dispersion quality or substitute compatibility.

Industrial electricity averages 9.77 cents per kWh across the U.S. (EIA, Jul 2026), up 4.7% from a year earlier. Energy-intensive steps carry this directly into unit cost.
The producer price index for industrial chemicals stands at 336.006 (BLS, Aug 2026), up 13.3% from a year earlier. Quotes priced off last quarter's material cost miss this move.
The U.S. has 14,543 chemical manufacturing establishments employing about 911,245 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).

How do I combine several pigments? Divide their combined invoice cost by their combined mass. Use that weighted price with the total pigment-group mass.
Where does a purchased pigment dispersion belong? Place the complete supplied dispersion in the pigment group at its purchase price. Do not also enter its carrier in the vehicle group.
Is this the cost per kilogram of saleable ink? No, it is the cost per kilogram charged to the recipe. Milling and transfer losses change the cost per saleable kilogram.
Does a cheaper pigment preserve color strength? The calculation cannot answer that. Evaluate color, dispersion, print performance and qualification requirements before substituting ingredients.

Last reviewed 2026-10-01.