ARS | Publication request: THE USE OF VEGETABLE OILS IN PRINTING INKS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTAL ADVANTAGES

Submitted to: International Symposium on Printing and Coating Technology
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: September 9, 1998
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: The current U.S. market for news inks is greater than 500M lb, for sheetfed inks is greater than 100M lb and for heatset inks greater than 400M lb. The worldwide market for these inks is estimated to be at least twice that of the domestic market. Because of this significant potential market, we formulated news, sheetfed, and heatset web offset inks using 100% veg oil based vehicles. Physical properties and performance of these inks meet or exceed the industry standards. Biodegradation of these vehicles and inks were evaluated both by "Gravimetric Method" and "Modified Sturm Test." With both methods our ink degraded faster and more completely than commercial inks. In the ink industry, volatile organic chemicals (VOC) are defined as any organic material in an ink which will eventually evaporate from the ink, regardless of time it takes to evaporate. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Method 24, 24A and Bay Area Method 30 0are the three major methods used for VOC emission evaluation of printing inks. VOC of commercial inks and our ink formulations were tested and comparison of results from different methods were made. The results once again showed the superiority of veg oil based inks over petroleum resin based inks. The success of many paper recycling efforts depends on the "deinkability" of the printing products. Deinking studies conducted at Western Mich U, Kalamazoo, MI. Image analysis indicated that our soy ink (100% soy based) was removed more completely than the commercial (60% soy based) inks, even after 6 months aging. U.S. Patent (5,122,188) has been granted for our news ink vehicles and formulations (1992), and a U.S. Patent (5,713,990) has been granted for sheetfed and heatset ink formulations (1997).