Ink, as one of the five major printing elements, is an essential raw material. Because the traditional ink will volatilize VOCs and other harmful substances in the process of use, it will not only cause pollution to the environment, but also affect human health.

Therefore, research on printing, packaging and industry-related fields of low pollution, pollution-free, energy-saving, low-carbon, recyclable green ink products have become very urgent, and let environmentally friendly ink to replace traditional ink has become an inevitable need. At present, the environmental protection inks that have emerged are mainly water-based inks, UV curable inks and plant-based inks.

1, Water-based Ink

Water-based ink with water as the carrier, low viscosity, good fluidity, and does not use volatile organic solvents, is conducive to environmental protection, is in line with environmental protection, pollution-free "green" printing materials. The solvent used is water or alcohol, which significantly reduces the emission of VOCs, not only to prevent air pollution, but also to eliminate the harm of toxic and harmful substances in solvent-based ink to the human body and the pollution of packaged goods.

Therefore, water-based ink is widely favored by the industry, and has become a typical representative of environmentally friendly ink. At present, it is mainly used in packaging and printing products with strict sanitary conditions such as tobacco and alcohol, medicines, children's toys, etc., but further wide application needs to be promoted.

2, UV Curing Ink

UV curable ink means that under the irradiation of ultraviolet light at a certain wavelength, the connection material in the ink will undergo light curing reaction, so as to complete the curing without producing polluting substances. Therefore, UV curing ink has the advantages of high environmental performance, wide substrate adaptability, instant curing, good stability and high production efficiency, so that it has been recognized by more and more enterprises in the printing and packaging industry, mainly used in offset printing, flexo printing and inkjet printing.

At present, domestic UV ink is gradually replacing imported products, and most domestic ink manufacturers have their own brands of UV ink. This not only provides UV ink with more price advantages for printing enterprises, but also provides more technical services, and actively promotes the promotion and application of UV technology in China, so that this field can maintain continuous and rapid development.

3, Vegetable Ink

Vegetable ink refers to the composition of the ink contains vegetable oil components, the composition of the ink to replace the traditional ink hydrocarbons in the ink, generally refers to environmentally friendly soybean ink. This ink in line with environmental requirements at the same time also has good printing performance, and cost saving, a wide range of colors, rich colors, has the ability to better present colors.

In addition, the emergence and development of the ink can not only reduce environmental pollution, but also promote the development of agriculture. This win-win development model of enterprises and agriculture will not only receive local and national support, but also the general trend of the future.

Through the analysis of the characteristics of the above three inks, it is not difficult to see that the current environmentally friendly ink is based on the composition of the ink, and the harmful substances in the traditional ink are replaced with environmentally friendly materials, so as to obtain a new green ink product.

At present, whether it is water-based ink or UV curable ink, there are still some problems. The performance of water-based ink and the defects and obstacles such as the wettability of UV ink pigment and the poor balance of ink and wash need to be further improved, breakthrough and research.

In addition, for printing companies, the choice of environmentally friendly ink is also particularly important, the appropriate environmentally friendly ink to promote the enterprise green printing certification and enhance the corporate image has a great role. Therefore, enterprises in the choice of environmental protection ink must be combined with their own actual situation, comprehensive consideration of various factors, in order to choose their own favorable environmental protection ink, while playing a multiplier effect.