Ink is the main consumable in the printing industry. It can be divided into several types depending on the composition and content of the ink, the use of the substrate, the printing equipment, and the method of use. Most of the existing inks mostly contain organic (or inorganic) solvents, pigments, etc., and do not meet the requirements of environmental green printing. Nowadays, with the improvement of environmental awareness and the rising popularity of environmental protection, ink is the main component of green printing, and its environmental protection requirements are also increasing. The amount of printing ink suitable for environmental protection is increasing year by year. Environmental protection has become the only way for ink development in the future. Let's talk about the characteristics and applications of green environmental plant inks. Vegetable inks are vegetable oil-based inks, which use vegetable oils as the connecting material. The currently-developed and applied connection families include alkali-based rapeseed oil, cottonseed oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, and Cano Ia oil. Commonly used soybean oil-based vegetable inks. The plant ink is mainly prepared from natural plant color paste natural vegetable oil water and some auxiliary materials. Its advantage is that it can not only reduce the amount of volatile organic compounds released, but also the pigment paste does not contain any heavy metals and does not harm the human body. The vegetable ink completely removes the hydrocarbon resin in the common ink, reducing the amount of pigment, and is sufficient as a substitute for the petroleum-based ink. Thermosetting and fast-drying offset printing inks based on rapeseed oil and sunflower oil modified alkyd resins, vegetable oil-derived fatty acid methyl esters have replaced mineral oils, but the performance of thermoset offset printing inks has yet to be improved and improved. In addition, there are many offset gravure printing inks with vegetable oil as the main ingredient. In these products, vegetable oil or modified resin, or as a solvent, effectively reduces the V0C content, but in order to ensure printing performance, it still contains a certain amount of oil. Resins or solvents, it is believed that with the deepening of research, the amount of these petroleum resins or solvents will gradually decrease. The vegetable ink has a wide range of applications and can be applied to the printing of flexible packaging boxes, sanitary packaging, fast food lunch boxes, shopping bags, paper cups, cigarettes and cigarettes, printing labels for newspapers and magazines, beverages, wines, medicines, and various cosmetics. In addition, vegetable inks Frictional electrification does not occur, and natural fragrances can also be emitted. The diverse features of the vegetable ink in terms of technology and application make it an environmentally friendly ink with a wide range of application prospects. Taking soybean ink as an example, it has technically superior characteristics to ordinary petroleum-based inks, thereby forming a more extensive and novel ink application market. To sum up, plant inks have the following characteristics. 1, technical characteristics 1 Excellent environmental protection Ordinary petroleum-based inks contain a large amount of volatile organic compounds that are harmful to the human body. When printing inks, printing processes, or equipment cleaning and waste ink processing, the volatilization of large amounts of organic components not only seriously endanger the health of production operators, but also It will cause great damage to the environment. For example, the volatile organic compound contained in the V0C petroleum-based ink is one of the most potent carcinogens and seriously harms human health. The content of polycyclic aromatic compounds in vegetable inks is low, and VOCs are basically not emitted during use, and do not pollute the environment, which is beneficial to manufacturing and user health. In addition, the oil used in ordinary inks is a non-renewable resource, and the energy crisis brought about by large-scale use has become a serious problem for humans. In vegetable inks such as soybean oil, it can be recycled indefinitely and biodegradable. Regardless of resource utilization or environmental protection, plant inks have the advantage that common inks cannot match. 2 good friction resistance Printed products (such as newspapers) printed with ordinary petroleum-based inks have poor rubbing resistance. When reading, the printed ink on newspapers can easily darken the reader's hand, and often feel the presence of volatile components in the petrochemical odor. The reader is healthy. The use of soy ink printed newspapers, because the soy ink is more resistant to friction, the reader is not bothered by the hands of the black, and at the same time there is no bad odor stimuli, so the readers are generally welcomed. In addition, the botanical ink boiling point is much higher than the volatile component of petroleum, in the need for heating printing (such as laser printing, copying, etc.), will not stick to the paper because of volatilization, which is a plant ink is significantly better than ordinary ink characteristics. 3 Deinking of waste paper is easy and less damage to paper fibers According to research, it is found that for the deinking of recycled waste paper, soy inks are easier to deink than ordinary inks, and paper fibers have less damage. At the same time, the waste ink residue after deinking is easier to decompose than petroleum-based inks (because soybean oil is biodegradable and petroleum-based organisms are not decomposable), which is beneficial to the drainage treatment work. This characteristic of soy ink is a very favorable factor for waste paper recycling (recycled paper) operations. 4 more printing Because soy inks can exhibit more intense and bright color effects, printers can use less ink, reduce costs, and increase the unit print volume by about 10% to 15%. 5Colorful, rich and bright, suitable for a wide range of color printing. 6 non-toxic Soybean ink is non-toxic ink because it does not contain organic volatile harmful components such as aromatic polycyclic hydrocarbons, which is conducive to environmental protection. 7 good laser resistance Soybean ink is the best choice when prints need laser resistance. Its boiling point is much higher than that of petroleum. When the ink is heated by a laser printer or photocopier, it will not volatilize and stick to the paper, nor will it contaminate the parts of the printer. 2, application features Vegetable inks are not like non-renewable resources like petroleum inks. For example, soy oil contained in soy inks is a rich resource for sustainable regeneration and biodegradability. It can continuously provide raw materials for ink production and has good environmental protection. The use of vegetable fats (such as soybean oil) as a substitute for some petroleum-based mineral oils to make inks can promote the industrial use of vegetable oils in various countries, expand the application range of vegetable oils, and at the same time reduce the consumption and import of non-renewable oils and save foreign exchange. One-shot solution. 3, the main types of soy ink Because different printing methods and substrates require the use of different formulas of soy ink, it is as if gasoline cannot be applied to diesel engine vehicles. Therefore, soy inks also have to develop a variety of formulations for use in different printing situations. At present, there are mainly the following: 1 newspaper ink: newspaper printing using a web printing, the Department is to absorb the reaction and make the oil in the ink absorbed by the paper and leave the printing color on the surface of the paper to complete the printing. The newspaper ink has a higher oil content (soybean oil), while the black ink generally has an oil content of at least 40% and color inks of at least 30%. 2 Sheetfed ink: This kind of ink contains more resin components, but vegetable oil is at least 20%. 3 thermosetting ink: low oil content, at least 7%. 4 cold-setting ink: oil content of at least 30%. 5 Commercial Form Printing Inks: At least 20% oil content. 6 Letterpress ink: This ink is a water matrix or solvent matrix, does not contain vegetable oil such as soybean oil, but contains plant proteins (such as soy protein), can make pigments attached to the paper to complete the printing. The protein content is usually 15% to 20%. The origins of plant inks originated from the global oil crisis that occurred in 1979. As oil prices at that time continued to soar and spread to related industries including the printing industry, the supply of oil caused some problems. In particular, the ink industry had problems with market supply. Sensitive. In order to ease the impact of the oil crisis on the printing industry, avoid the impact of raw material supply on production. The head of the U.S. Press Printers Association (now the U.S. Press Association) advocates the promotion of the development of alternative oil-based printing inks. After years of research on a variety of vegetable oil formulations, the results show that soy inks are non-toxic, non-polluting, and cooking-friendly. The soybean oil is rich in yield, cheap, safe and reliable, and the printing effect is good and meets the standard specifications of the printing ink, especially with superior environmental performance. The final choice was to use soybean oil as a base for the production of vegetable inks. In 1987, the press was printed and succeeded, so that soybean ink could be used in the newspaper industry. It can be said that the application of soy ink is decisive for the newspaper industry. There are about 10,000 newspapers in the United States. One-third of them have used soy inks. In particular, more than 90% of the larger 1500 daily newspapers have confirmed their effects and adopted soy inks. Most of the newspapers use soy ink for color printing, and because the price of colored soy ink can already compete with petroleum-based color inks, its printing effect is excellent, the colors are very bright and the environmental protection is good. In the long term, black soybean ink has good printing effect and high efficiency in newspaper printing (if the number of copies is large, it can reduce the cost), which has a strong competitive advantage. In addition to newspaper printing, other printing, such as sheetfed inks, thermosetting inks, coldset inks, commercial form printing inks, and letterpress inks, may also employ soy inks. In thermosetting printing, the vegetable ink can avoid the environmental pollution caused by the volatilization of V0C, and gives the printed product a thick and bright appearance in color printing, so it is recommended for use by the U.S. Newspaper Association. In recent years, the demand for green printing has been increasing, and the advantages of soy ink have become increasingly prominent. Whether it is to protect the environment, reduce dependence on imported oil, or to ensure sustainable production and renewable resources, promoting the use of soy ink can achieve the purpose. The United States, Japan, South Korea and other countries have been vigorously promoting the use of soy ink. At present, there are 230 ink factories in Japan engaged in the production of soy inks and have been used by I75 units. Japan's Osaka Printing Ink Co., Ltd. recently introduced a new type of sheet-fed offset printing environmental ink "OpiS1O0", which is a kind of soybean ink that has won the approval of the American Soybean Association. It can be said that vegetable ink (soybean ink) will be one of the best choices for future environmental protection inks, and its development prospects are very broad.