BY 2017 printing presses around the world will lap up 3.7m tonnes of ink, worth some $18 billion. Most of it will contain hydrocarbon-based solvents resulting in emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), an undesirable by-product of the manufacturing process. But not all. EnNatura, a company spun out of the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi has created a formula for making ink that is environmentally friendly.
In the creation of ink, the current “mixture is spiked with petroleum distillates…EnNatura’s proprietary resin chemistry does the same thing using castor oil, a natural purgative.”
Other companies, especially in America, make biodegradable ink. But most use petrochemicals to clean the resin from printing plates once the printing job is complete, which defeats the purpose. EnNatura, by contrast, employs a liquid concentrate made from a surfactant, a substance which, when mixed with water, eats into the resin and scrapes it off the printer.
via The Economist
What’s more exciting about this, the new environmentally friendly ink or the fact that India is creating this kind of start-up?