Vegetable oils-based printing inks

Due to resource constraints and tighter restrictions, greater environmental awareness among the public, and a growing demand for inks with low ecological imprint, printing ink businesses have advanced toward more sustainable vegetable oils (VOs)-based inks. They can be manufactured from typical VOs such as soybean, sunflower, cottonseed, safflower and canola oil. The use of VOs in nonfood applications is of great interest due to their nontoxicity, biodegradability and their ability to get transformed into desirable chemical products easily. When VO-based inks are exposed to air, they easily get converted from liquid to vapour phase, enabling their convenient dispersion with black, white or coloured pigments. VO-based printing inks are ecofriendly, renewable, cost-effective, do not contain harmful VOCs, and do not have significant detrimental effects when in contact with food. The chapter discusses the composition of inks and their advantages over petro-based inks.