Development and Application of Soybean Ink (2)

2 Characteristics of Soybean Ink

Soybean inks have become more popular than traditional petroleum-based inks and have become the new darling of the ink market.

2.1 Excellent environmental protection

Traditional petroleum-based inks usually contain a large amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and are mostly PolyAromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH), such as 3-nitropropiophenone, which have been proved by modern medicine. Has a strong carcinogenic effect. When ink manufacturing, printing, drying processes or cleaning manufacturing equipment and printing equipment, organic components are volatilized, which seriously endangers health. The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soy inks are low in content and will not emit VOCs when used. They will not harm the environment and benefit the health of manufacturers and users. At the same time, the oil that traditional inks rely on is a non-renewable resource. With the depletion of use, the energy crisis has become the biggest problem faced by mankind. Many industries have turned their attention to renewable plant resources, such as biodiesel. Soybean oil in soybean oil from natural, can be infinitely renewable, but also biodegradable, both from the perspective of resource utilization and environmental protection have traditional ink unmatched advantages.

2.2 Excellent abrasion resistance

Traditional petroleum-based inks have poor print rub resistance and are easily stained by dark readers' hands. According to the U.S. Press Association, newspaper readers are usually concerned about their hands being black when reading. Soybean ink itself is very resistant to rubbing, so that newspaper readers are not bothered by black hands, and there is no unpleasant odor. So, soy ink plays an important role at this point and will set ink quality standards for the printing industry.

2.3 Good light and heat resistance Soy inks have a much higher boiling point than petroleum volatiles. When the oil is heated by a laser printer or photocopier, it will not volatilize and stick to paper, and it will not contaminate machine parts.

2.4 Easy to deink ink

Researchers at the University of Western Michigan, famous for their papermaking technology, have found through research that soy inks are easier to deink than traditional inks, and that they have less damage to paper fibers and good quality recycled paper. More than 80% of paper used in newspapers is made of recycled paper. This feature of soy ink makes waste paper less wasteful when recycled and recycled, and has lower recovery costs and is highly competitive in the industry. The waste soybean ink residue after deinking treatment is relatively easy to be degraded, which is favorable for sewage treatment and control of discharge water quality.

2.5 Low overall printing costs

Soybean inks have a wide range of colors, rich colors and bright colors. A small amount of ink can exhibit the effects that a large number of traditional inks can exhibit. It has been reported that soy inks can increase the printing volume by 10% to 15%, thus reducing the printing cost. In addition, because traditional inks contain organic compounds and substances, in order to avoid causing environmental pollution, its disposal has become a problem that plagues ink manufacturers and printers. However, soy ink can be backfilled and mixed in new inks, which is not only conducive to environmental protection, but also reduces production costs.

2.6 In line with industrial policy

China is a large agricultural country and the main producer of soybean in the world. The development of vegetable oil-based inks represented by soybean ink not only conforms to the national energy industry development policy, but also promotes the development of the domestic vegetable oil industry and expands the application of vegetable oils. , Reducing the consumption and import of non-renewable oil, saving foreign exchange, but also in line with rural industrial policies, promote the adjustment of agricultural planting structure, benefit the country and the people.

3 Application Prospects

In recent years, environmental protection and health have become global issues. Prints such as newspapers and magazines are closely related to life. The environmental issues of printing inks are bound to attract attention. In the United States, according to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations on chemical hazards, if the content of carcinogenic substances in ink products exceeds 0.1%, they must be marked on the products, and newspapers are no exception. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has also announced the potential carcinogenicity of petroleum-based printing inks to warn of the toxicity of petroleum-based inks. Due to various negative factors of traditional inks, the printing industry in the United States has gradually tended to use vegetable inks with low polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as raw material oils. In 1992, the CleanAirAmendment (United States Clean Air Amendment) encouraged newspapers to use non-petroleum-based ink formulations in order to reduce emissions of chemical substances. As a result, printers gradually switched to soybean inks to meet the exhaust emission standards set by the Clean Air Amendment. In 1994, the United States adopted the Vegetable Ink Printing Act, which stipulates that under the same cost, government agencies' prints should be printed on soybean ink in order to facilitate environmental protection.

In China, with the improvement of the quality of the citizens, the awareness of environmental protection has increased, and the upcoming 2008 “Green Olympics” in Beijing has created a good opportunity for the promotion and application of environmentally friendly soybean ink. Vigorously researching and developing soybean ink is also a contribution made by the oil industry for environmental protection.