Environmentally friendly inks used in tobacco packaging printing

In line with the development of the printing industry at home and abroad, China's tobacco packaging and printing industry has come with the advent of a green era and domestic and international users of high-grade cigarettes. In recent years, many tobacco packaging and printing companies have made key materials for printed materials, such as paper and ink. , adhesives and printing aids have also constantly raised the requirements of environmental protection, various types of printing material suppliers have responded, environmental protection products have been introduced to meet the market's requirements.

First, the use of environmentally friendly materials to produce a new type of environmentally friendly ink
Currently available on the market are water-based inks, UV inks and water-based UV inks.

1, water-based ink
Its greatest feature is no pollution to the environment, no impact on human health, non-flammable, safe, stable, non-corrosive plate and printing equipment, and simple operation, low price, good printing quality, especially suitable for food, pharmaceuticals , Cosmetics, etc. are used for the printing of packaging and decorating printing products that require strict hygienic conditions.

The biggest difference between aqueous inks and solvent inks is that water-based inks use water instead of solvents. Because solvent-based inks mostly use volatile drying methods, the lower the boiling point of the solvent, the easier it is to volatilize, and the gases generated during volatilization will contaminate the surrounding environment and are harmful to the printing worker's body. Residual hazardous substances are not suitable for packaging foods, medicines, children's toys, etc.

According to the relevant information, the United States has stipulated that organic solvents capable of producing photochemical smog can be used to limit the total amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and the water-based inks complying with the VOC regulations must meet two standards:

â–  In the use of the ink composition, the proportion of volatile components in the following 25%, more than 75% of the water;

â–  When the ink with low moisture content is used, the non-volatile content is more than 60%.

Water-based inks are generally used in the printing of paper products including paper-plastic composite products. Their characteristics are to meet the ink-absorbing properties of paper printing and to make the prints fuller in color. More importantly, their solvents are water and ethanol. They are environmentally friendly and green. Ink. In the United States, ink consumption has accounted for 30% to 40% of total ink consumption, but the use of water-based inks has only just begun in China.

As a leader in the domestic ink manufacturing industry, Tianjin Toyo has been committed to the development and production of high-quality printing inks, and has also led the development of domestic ink manufacturing to the direction of green environmental protection. The important environmental protection factors such as aromatics-free solvents, soybean oil, and water-based solvents have all been widely used in Tianjin Toyo's products, forming a product team with both quality and environmental protection and international competitiveness. In terms of water-based inks and water-based varnishes, Tianjin Toyo has developed a series of products. Among them, AQDW series flexo-based water-based inks are suitable for printing white paper, corrugated paper, etc. (high-grade paper cups, paper boxes, cartons). The products have been tested by Japan Food Center and have heavy metal content lower than the Japanese standard; TWH series water-based flexographic inks are suitable It is printed on white plate paper, corrugated paper, etc. (tobacco mark, wine label); COZ alcohol type gravure printing paper ink is benzene-free type ink, excellent in print color reproducibility, suitable for field printing and level printing, and has a wide range of applications. General packaging materials such as layered paper, processed aluminum foil paper, coated paper for paper, and the like are applicable.

2, UV ink
It is a photocurable ink that can change from a liquid state to a solid state under the irradiation of a certain wavelength of ultraviolet light. Its characteristic is that the ink does not contain volatile organics, does not pollute the environment, and is conducive to environmental protection. Ink drying speed, low energy consumption, high gloss, colorful, water resistance, wear resistance, oil resistance, solvent resistance and so on.

UV inks can only be dried at a certain wavelength of UV light, even if stored in ink cartridges for a long period of time, the performance is relatively stable, fast and thorough drying when printing, no solvent emissions, without the need to prevent the printing materials stained and dusting, The quality of printed products is good, the printing press and printing environment are clean, there is no dust pollution, the printed paper can be recycled and reused, it will not affect the intrinsic quality of the substrate, and it is especially suitable for the color printing of packaging products, which is environmentally friendly green Ink.

Tianjin Toyo's UV products include: FD KARTON ACE series for general paper printers, FDO NEW series for plastic printing inks, FDS TK series for synthetic paper printing inks, UV varnishes, and UV print auxiliaries. Among them, the general paper printing ink FD KARTON ACE series is characterized by the emulsion stability and the increase of the water amplitude to stabilize the operation on the printing press, the full plate and the dots are highly balanced, and the excellent print reproducibility and the excellent flow can be obtained. Properties and Transferability, Stable Concentration and Overprinting Characteristics; FDO ​​NEW Series for Plastic Printing Applications Features Excellent Adhesion to Various Plastic Substrate, Stable Operation on Press, Excellent Offset Suitability, Synthetic Paper Printing Ink FDS TK series is suitable for synthetic paper printing, with good adhesion and excellent friction resistance, scratch resistance.

3, water-based UV ink
It is a new research direction in the field of UV inks. The main reason is that the viscosity of prepolymers used in common UV inks is generally large, and reactive diluents need to be added in the production of inks. Currently, reactive diluents (acrylic esters) are used. The compounds) have different degrees of irritation to the skin. For this reason, water-based UV inks are being developed at the same time as research and development of low-viscosity prepolymers and low-irritating reactive diluents.

In recent years, UV inks have also developed rapidly in China, but compared with developed countries, the development of UV inks and the amount of market puts are insufficient. In the United Kingdom, many international large-scale packaging and printing companies account for about 80% of all their products.

Second, the use of environmentally friendly materials to replace the production of traditional ink products into environmentally friendly ink
1. Non-aromatic Offset Sheetfed Ink, Non-Aromatic Thermosetting Offset Transfer Printing Ink
In recent years, in the world of ink production, in order to reduce the pollution of printing environment and printed matter caused by petroleum solvents in offset printing inks, many ink manufacturers use all-purpose aromatic-free petroleum solvents in offset printing inks and thermosetting offset printing transfer inks. To improve the impact of ink on the global environment and operating environment and launch environmentally friendly ink products. In addition to the superior performance of the original product, this type of product does not contain aromatic hydrocarbon solvents. At present, this type of ink has been used in international and domestic applications. The printing industry has been generally welcomed by users.

Tianjin Toyo TNV offset printing solvent-free inks are characterized by the absence of volatile solvents and are therefore harmless to the environment and operator safety; the ink has a firm film with excellent abrasion resistance and drying properties; good printability and transferability Printing performance; suitable for printing substrates such as coated paper, white board paper, and matt paper (matt paper) on an offset four-color machine; applicable to high-speed printers; fully capable of satisfying printing users' ink quality, safety, and environmental protection The request. TSP Offset Synthetic Paper Ink, this product contains no volatile solvents and is suitable for printing non-absorptive printing substrates such as specialty papers such as gold plate paper, silver plate paper and aluminum foil paper on offset printing and embossing printing machines. Its ink has the characteristics of quick drying and good adhesion on printed matter.

2. Soybean oil type offset bright fast drying ink, soybean oil type offset printing news ink, soybean oil type thermosetting offset printing rotary ink
This is another type of environment-friendly ink product introduced by the ink manufacturer to replace part of the petroleum-based solvent used in the binder material for offset printing ink with soybean oil to improve the ink's pollution to the printing environment. In addition to its excellent performance, it reduces the impact of ink on the printing environment and printed products, and replaces petroleum-based solvents, which are increasingly depleted on the planet, with renewable soybean oil, achieving the dual effect of both protecting the environment and protecting the earth's resources. At present, such inks have been widely used in the international and domestic printing industry.

The American Soybean Association made specific provisions for the content of soybean oil in ink:

Offset thermosetting rotary ink content of not less than 7%

Offset printing paper ink: more than 20%
News Ink: Color ink more than 30%
Black ink more than 40%
Business form ink: 20% or more
If the product does meet this standard, the SOYSEAL logo may be affixed to the soy association to indicate that the product has met environmental requirements. At the same time, many ink manufacturers also use aromatic-free solvents (aromatics content <1%) to form aromatic-free soybean oil inks.

Tianjin Dongyang TK THK AFSOY soybean oil offset light fast drying ink has obtained the United States soybean oil association environmental certification. The product utilizes soybean oil, a renewable resource, as the carrier, and uses aromatic-free solvents (abstracted aromatics content ≤ 1%) to reduce environmental pollution and harm to operators. The product has good printing adaptability and transfer performance; the printing dots are clear, the color is bright, the concentration is high, and the gloss is good; it has good ink balance and on-board stability; it can meet the high-speed printing needs of more than 10,000 printing per hour and is high High-grade ink products with both performance and environmental protection.

Reprinted from: "Global Box Industry"