Alcohol and Alcohol Substitutes

Alcohol has been a staple chemical used in the printing process since the early days. In printing there's a classic tug of war between ink and water and maintaining that balance is critical to proper problem-free printing. As an aid in that struggle printers have used additives in their water to help tailor the water properties. Alcohol in the dampening solution helps to make the water "wetter" and allow it to be metered out thinner for more precise control, this is especially important in printing at higher speeds

Alcohol is typically introduced as a 10-15% margin, water at 80% and the rest being a fountain concentrate.