Environmentally friendly inks and glazing materials
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In the past, the printing industry has been regarded as not environmentally friendly for two reasons: 1. Cutting trees when manufacturing paper; 2. Solvents used in inks and glazing materials, containing VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) can seriously affect human health. And destroying nature. The theme of the last issue of the monthly magazine is environmentally friendly paper. I believe readers have a preliminary understanding of how the paper industry balances ecology and printing needs. In this issue, I visited two ink factories and one chemical material factory with the theme of environmentally friendly inks and glazing materials. I hope to bring more information to this reader and clarify the misunderstanding of ink.
Some people think that environmentally friendly inks are soy inks, some people think that they are VOC-free, and some people think that water-free inks are the most environmentally friendly. Which of the above mentioned inks is the most environmentally friendly? What is the difference with traditional inks? Is there a difference in performance? Will the price be far apart? Which one is most popular and most developable?
First, One ink
Ink composition
General offset inks, including pigments, greases, solvents, resins, additives, no matter how other ingredients are matched, the pigments and solvent components may be petroleum by-products. Therefore, any kind of ink, no matter how environmentally friendly, cannot be Contains petroleum ingredients. Oils and resins are plant products with low environmental impact. Grease accounts for about 40 to 60% of the ink composition. Most of them use soybean oil, linseed oil, and a small amount of tung oil, castor oil, etc.; another important component is solid resin, which is made from rosin. In addition, it also includes about 25-30% of the solvent, which is the least environmentally friendly of the ink composition. Up to 60-70% of the early ink materials were refined from petroleum.
In the past few years, many people believe that the use of soy ink (according to the definition of soybean oil by the American Soybean Association, the general offset printing ink, to contain more than 20% of the soybean oil component, can be called "soybean ink") is equal to environmental protection. However, in fact, most of the oil components of the ink are vegetable oils, the difference is only the ratio of various vegetable oils. The rise of soy ink in the past was due to the fact that the American Soybean Association wanted to consume the remaining soybeans in the industry. After years of promotion, the soy mark in printing has been generally accepted by users. However, due to the public's understanding of ink composition, the Japanese ink industry has changed to the trademark of vegetable oil ink since 2009. Sato Hiroshi, Managing Director of Donghua (Guangzhou) Ink Co., Ltd. said, "In fact, even non-soybean inks are made from vegetable oil. In recent years, customers have asked about soy inks. We will explain to customers that even if they do not use soy ink, It does not mean that it is not environmentally friendly. Therefore, Japan's Soy Ink Association has been dissolved in 2009, and the concept of environmentally friendly inks containing soy ingredients is no longer emphasized. For Donghua, sales of traditional inks are better than soybean inks. And remind everyone that soy inks contain oil and other ingredients and are not edible.
Definition of environmentally friendly ink
When asked about the definition of environmentally friendly inks, Wu Shengyang, the general manager of Zuo Jin and Daxing Ink Chemicals (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., said in unison, "What inks are environmentally friendly depends on the definition of environmental protection." Refers to soy oil, zero VOC, UV or waterless ink. As mentioned above, soy inks are not more environmentally friendly than other inks, while the other few inks, more or less, are designed to reduce emissions of VOCs. Wu Shengyang said, "The most important environmental issue now (for inks) is VOC, and the other is heavy metals."
VOC refers to any volatile compound containing carbon, which has a serious impact on the human body and the environment. According to Xuanlong Chemical Wang Yuhua, VOC will enter the human body through the skin or respiratory tract of the human body during use. When used improperly, the operation workshop is sealed and poorly ventilated, and the operator does not wear respirator and rubber gloves. When protective equipment is used, VOC will stimulate the respiratory tract and directly penetrate the skin surface, causing difficulty in breathing, conjunctival and pharyngeal congestion, dizziness, headache, nausea, vomiting, chest tightness, weakness of the limbs, gait convulsions, confusion and other symptoms. Severe cases may cause convulsions, convulsions, coma, etc. Long-term exposure to VOC can cause neurasthenia, hepatomegaly, women with abnormal menstruation, dry skin, and even epithelial inflammation. In the sun, VOCs react chemically with nitrogen oxides in cars, power plants, and industrial activities to form ozone, which in turn forms particles. The accumulation of ozone, particulates and other pollutants in the air is the cause of (Smog) smoke, which reduces visibility.
In addition to VOC, heavy metals are another important point of environmentally friendly inks. In order to ensure the heavy metal content standard, Wu Shengyang said, "For those raw materials that are easier to exceed the standard, we will test each batch; those with lower risk (such as rosin) will be tested during the meeting. Now the heavy metals to be noticed in the ink composition. There are 8 kinds, most manufacturers will entrust authoritative institutions, such as SGS, to test PBBS (8 substances) and PBDEs (8 substances)." Donghua is one of the designated suppliers of Mattel, In order to ensure quality, Donghua Hangzhou Branch will hand over the raw materials purchased every time to Shanghai SGS for testing.
Types and characteristics of environmentally friendly inks
Reducing emissions VOCs are the ultimate goal of environmentally friendly inks. Sasaki Hiroshi said, "If the definition of environmental protection is to reduce VOC emissions, then zero VOC ink is the most environmentally friendly, but if the definition of environmental protection is to reduce water, it is anhydrous ink. In fact, the most VOC emissions are the printing process, and It is not just the use of the ink itself. Therefore, to reduce the most VOC, the waterless printing process is used.” The anhydrous offset printing plate includes a lipophilic resin layer and an oil-repellent silicone layer, and the water-printed non-image portion The water is drained, and the waterless plate is discharged with a uniform layer of silica gel. The ink is not in contact with water to avoid emulsification. The biggest difference between anhydrous ink and traditional ink is the difference between resin and binder. The principle of waterless printing is that the surface energy of the silicone in the non-image area of the printing plate is low. If the viscosity of the ink is strong, the strength of the molecules attracting each other will be higher than the affinity with the silicone. The material will have a strong ink repellent property. The advantage of waterless printing is that it does not use water bucket water when printing, and does not need alcohol bucket, which can save cost; no special printing solution is needed for printing, only ordinary water printing plate can be used, it is more environmentally friendly, and can be large Reduce the discharge of sewage and VOC; also avoid too much water so that the ink does not dry, and can save paper and reduce registration time.
In addition, the use of zero VOC inks and UV inks can also reduce emissions of VOCs. The VOC content in zero VOC inks is not zero, but less than 1%. Wu Shengyang said, "The drying time of (zero VOC ink) will be somewhat slower than that of VOC, or some back adhesion (over the bottom) will occur. Because there is no solvent, there will be many difficulties in producing ink. The production time is also longer, and the water resistance on the printing machine is worse than that of the general ink." Zuo Hongshu also said, "The use of VOC in ink is to make the ink dry quickly. If there is no such ingredient in the ink, the ink will be slowed down. Drying time. However, for this reason, the finished product printed with zero VOC ink will have a thicker ink layer (20-30% of the solvent component will be replaced by other components. After the VOC-containing ink is dry, follow When the VOC is volatilized, the ink layer will be thinner. The amount of ink will increase the gloss and abrasion resistance of the ink. Moreover, since there is no volatilization of VOC, even if plastic such as PVC is sandwiched in the printed matter, the surface will not wave. "
Another environmentally friendly UV ink is that there is no VOC in its composition. However, environmental protection is not only a consideration of VOC, but also the recycling of ink and ink-related power consumption. "Ordinary offset inks require solvent to achieve drying, but also use powder to help solidify and dry. UV inks do not need to use dusting. Once UV inks are dried immediately, UV inks are completely solvent-free. This is the most environmentally friendly. However, UV inks also have a disadvantage. After printing, if the paper is recycled, it is difficult to dissolve the UV ink. Once the UV ink is cured, it is difficult to dissolve. Moreover, the UV lamp consumes a large amount of electricity and needs to be air-conditioned. Reduce the temperature of the workshop due to the use of UV lamps, and increase the power consumption. These are not environmentally friendly. Another point is to use UV inks in addition to UV lamps, as well as special ink rollers, tapes, UV inks. It is 4-5 times more expensive than usual, and the cost of materials is very high. With the electricity bill just mentioned, the cost will increase a lot.” Donghua is one of the products UV HY-BD 4 color HS in order to balance speed and environmental protection. -2 Environmentally friendly UV ink, the temperature of the solution after dissolution is similar to that of ordinary ink, and the price is not far from the ordinary ink. The disadvantage is that the drying time is slightly longer than the general UV ink.
As for the most environmentally friendly ink? Sasaki Hiroshi continued, "The most environmentally friendly is zero VOC waterless ink, which has been adopted in Japan. This is the future development direction, but it is still difficult to control the printing process." In addition to the above various environmentally friendly inks, It also mentions the "rice oil ink" and the "self-sufficiency concept of raw materials" recently promoted in Japan - the use of domestic materials to produce inks to reduce carbon dioxide emissions during transportation. Take the Japanese as an example. They use rice as their main food, and they can use rice bran for industrial purposes, causing ink. Markets such as Japan and South Korea have gradually adopted this product. According to this concept, it is not necessary to use rice bran to make ink in China's self-produced materials. Other plants such as barley, corn, sunflower, etc. can also make oil.
The status of the use of environmentally friendly inks in China's printing industry
Although the use of environmentally friendly inks is a global trend, it is still difficult to promote environmentally friendly inks in China. Wu Shengyang said, "Exports to Europe, the United States, Japan and other countries' prints, (compared to domestic products) will have more customers to use environmentally friendly inks. Because the price of environmentally friendly inks is relatively high, generally not the requirements of print customers, the printing plant It is not the use of environmentally friendly inks, and the domestic promotion of environmentally friendly inks is relatively slow." Zuo Jin also said, "Take Donghua as an example. It is more difficult to promote zero VOC inks in China. Even big companies do not pay much attention to this. Therefore, our promotion focus is not on environmental protection, but on the impact of printed products. The company that purchases environmentally friendly inks from Donghua, especially in Guangdong, mostly because of the export requirements, the domestic requirements for production are not so high. It can be seen that the concept of using environmentally friendly inks for domestic products has not yet been popularized.
Second glazing material
On the topic of environmentally friendly glazing materials, Xuanlong Chemical Wang Yuhua has the following instructions:
Conventional varnish and film-coated glue generally consist of an organic solvent or a film-forming resin. Because the film contains a large amount of organic solvent, a large amount of organic matter needs to be volatilized during film formation for curing, so it is a highly volatile organic compound. . Environmentally friendly varnished volatile organic compounds have low volatility or no volatility. To achieve the above criteria, the coating should not contain too much volatile solvent, and some may even be completely solvent free. The new environmentally friendly varnish or film adhesive is produced by emulsion synthesis technology. Emulsion synthesis is made by using water as a medium and through a special reaction synthesis process. Since water is an inorganic substance, it is non-toxic, odorless, and free of volatile gases during use or operation, and is harmless to human health and does not pollute. atmosphere. Emulsion type and solvent type coating system are different, and there may be some differences in the operation. The emulsion type paint uses water as the medium and the water content (specific heat fusion) is higher, so the requirements for the drying equipment of the operating machine are higher.
Emulsion varnish or film adhesive has been developed so far, and the performance indicators in all aspects can basically be aligned with solvent-based varnish or film adhesive, but the ease of use still needs time to be improved. The main problem of traditional crude oil is the harmful substances. To reduce these harmful factors, it is necessary to strengthen various environmental protection facilities, such as improving the ventilation and adding harmful organic gas collection and treatment equipment to reduce the impact on people and the environment. . The medium that produces environmental pollution during the process is disposed of by the relevant media company to increase the cost of the plant in terms of equipment and environment, but this can be avoided by using emulsion varnish.
We believe that Hong Kong's awareness of environmentally friendly varnish or plastic film is relatively deep and easy to accept. However, with the introduction of corresponding environmental regulations in China and the increasing awareness of the public's environmental protection, Xuanlong did not encounter much difficulty in promoting products in China. As foreign environmental regulations become more stringent, customers' demand for environmentally friendly varnish and film adhesives will increase accordingly, and we will invest more resources to develop products. In addition, we will provide customers with the most basic ROHS and REACH environmental quality standard certificates. When designing environmentally friendly varnish formulations, we strictly follow the above two standards, and do not use the hazardous substances listed therein. Unfortunately, there are some chemical products in China. The plant still uses prohibited raw materials for production.
In recent years, the application of environmentally friendly varnish and environmental protection film adhesives for food packaging, gift packaging, and book publishing has been used in large quantities. For the safety of food packaging, manufacturers will abandon the original solvent-based varnish to use environmentally friendly water-based glazing oil; and for the packaging of books, for security reasons. Books are objects of long-term contact in life. If the packaging contains harmful substances, it will penetrate into the body through the skin and affect health. Our advice to the industry is to purchase environmentally friendly quality certificates from manufacturers when procuring environmentally friendly varnishes and environmentally friendly films, and to prove that the products used are in full compliance with environmental quality standards.