Waste Evaluation of Soy-Based Ink at a Sheet-Fed Offset Printer

PACIFIC NW POLLUTION PREVENTION RESEARCH CENTER
POLLUTION PREVENTION RESEARCH PROJECTS DATABASE

Project Title: Waste Evaluation of Soy-Based Ink at a Sheet-Fed Offset Printer

Date Last Updated: 5/96

Project Summary: The object of this study was to determine environmental impacts and associated economics of using soy-based inks instead of petroleum-based inks at the Office of Printing Services at the University of Illinois. Operators used the same cleaners for both types of inks because no satisfactory substitutes had been identified.

The study results showed that the petroleum-based ink run required larger quantities ink than the soy-based inks print run for three of the four colors of ink tested. Both types of inks appeared to require approxiately the same amount of cleaners and effort to remove from the presses. On average in typical practice, the amount of cleaner used for the two inks would be expected to be about the same. Based on lab results and on the amount of inks and cleaners used, the amounts of solids and volatiles in the inks and cleaners were calculated. The amounts of volatiles were used to estimate the total mass of air emissions. Over 90% of the liquid wastes originated from the inks. As for the volatiles, over 99% originated from the cleaners in both cases.

Overall, soy inks have some environmental and other advantages for sheet- fed offset printers. The main environmental advantage is that they release less than 1/5th of the mass of volatile organic chemicals compared to petroleum inks. The soy inks also spread about 15% further which offsets the current small cost difference (soy inks usually cost about 10% more than petroleum inks). In this study all other factors including make- ready time, appearance of printed product, and clean-up effort were essentially equivalent between the two types of inks.

Project Keywords: offset printing, soy inks, petroleum inks, cleaners, volatiles

Organization Performing Research: Illinois Department of Energy and Natural Resources, Hazardous Waste Research and Information Center

Primary Research Contact: not reported

Date Research Started/Completed: 1993

Publications Based on Research: "Waste Evaluation of Soy-Based Ink at a Sheet-Fed Offset Printer" by Gary Miller, et al., is available as report no. EPA/600/R-94/144.
Full report and project summary available through either:
* CERI Publications Unit, US EPA
26 W. Martin Luther King Drive
Cincinnati, OH, 45268
(513) 569-7582
or
* National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA 22161
(703) 487-4650

Approximate Project Budget: not reported

Primary Project Funder: US EPA

Funder Contact:
Paul Randall
US Environmental Protection Agency
National Risk Management Research Lab
26 West Martin Luther King Dr., MS 466
Cincinnati, Ohio 45268
phone: (513) 569-7673
fax: (513) 569-7677
e-mail: randall.paul@epamail.epa.gov