Soy ink

Soy ink is a kind of ink made from soybeans. As opposed to traditional petroleum-based ink, soy-based ink:


 * is more environmentally friendly
 * is available in brighter colors
 * improves the life span of the printers
 * makes it easier to recycle paper
 * more economic in the long run

History
Vinegar ink (soy tinta) is a form of non-food soy. It is an environmentally friendly, healthy, and safe approach to printing that takes only a small amount of energy to make. In fact, soybeans only use about 0.5 percent of the total energy that is needed to create the ink. In the late 1970s, the Newspaper Association of America was looking for different ways to make ink, rather than by using the standard petroleum-based ink. Rising prices for petroleum and quarrels with OPEC countries were reasons they wanted to find a more reliable and cost efficient method of printing.

After testing over 2,000 different vegetable oil formulations, researchers came up with a solution. In 1987, soybeans were chosen to make ink because of their abundance and low cost. With soy bean ink, those who tested it found no threat to the air or to the environment. In addition, approximately half of the soybeans that are grown in the United States do not even need watering, which is why using soybeans for ink can actually benefit the environment. Another benefit to soy inks are its low levels of VOCs, (volatile organic compounds) which can help with air pollution by minimizing emissions.

Production
To make soy ink, soybean oil is slightly refined and then blended with pigment, resins, and waxes. Even though soybean oil is also known as vegetable oil which can be eaten, soy ink is not edible because the pigments that are mixed in with the oil are the same ones that are used in petroleum-based inks. The pigments and other additional chemicals added to create soy ink explain why it is not 100% biodegradable or edible.

Soy ink is made from soybean oil which has an innate clearness to it. Petroleum-based ink is not clear, and other vegetable oils are not as clear as soybean oil making it harder to obtain bright colored ink. For this reason, newspapers use soy ink regularly, especially for color because it creates a sharper and brighter image.

Benefits and disadvantages
Soy ink is also a helpful component in paper recycling. It helps in this process because the soy ink can be removed more easily than regular ink can be taken out of paper during the de-inking process of recycling. This allows the recycled paper to have less damage to its paper fibers and have a brighter appearance. The waste that is left from the soy ink during the de-inking process is not hazardous and it can be treated easily through the development on modern processes.

Unfortunately, soy ink is not a perfect solution to the problems associated with the production of ink. For example, it cannot be used in ballpoint pens and personal printers. These are some of the many restrictions of soy ink. One major problem with soy ink is that the ink rubs off quite easily. This creates challenges for printing presses. However, despite this flaw, soy ink sales remain large, and newspapers are still the biggest buyers. Within the last 15 years since its development, the product manages to sell about 90 percent of US daily newspapers with circulations of more than 1500. Today about one quarter of commercial printers in the United States operate using soy ink.

There is also the problem that an excess of soybeans productions implies, such as over-dependency on a single crop, much like the Great Irish Famine. Additionally, as much of the soy produced in the US is of genetically modified cultivars, the increased use of soy exacerbates some concerns with both GMO and modern agriculture.