Newspaper ink is mainly made of soybean oil, with added dyes, pigments, and other chemicals. Soybean oil is a more environmentally friendly alternative to petroleum-based ink, but the added chemicals make it less biodegradable. Organic and inorganic compounds are used for pigmentation, and wax and paraffin are added to help the ink dry faster.
Several chemicals are used in the production of newspaper ink, although the most important ingredient is usually soybean oil. This is called the “vehicle” in the ink and was previously usually made with petroleum oil, although recently it has been made mostly with soybean oil. To this a number of other ingredients and chemicals are then added to make the ink. These include dyes and pigments, which can be organic or inorganic in nature, as well as other additives such as paraffin or wax to help newspaper ink dry faster. The other added ingredients prevent soybean-based ink from being fully biodegradable, although it is a little easier to recycle than petroleum-based ink.
Newspaper ink is used in newspaper printing for daily distribution and reading. For decades, these inks were made using a petroleum-based vehicle that could dry fairly quickly and create quality printed images and text. As oil has become more expensive, however, efforts have been made to find alternatives. This led to the development of several organic oil compounds for use in creating ink, with soybean oil being the vehicle of choice now being used by many major newspapers in the United States (USA).
While soybean oil alone would be completely biodegradable, the other chemicals added to the vehicle prevent newspaper ink from being completely safe for the environment. These chemicals can vary depending on the ink produced, although the pigmentation typically consists of organic or inorganic compounds. For black ink, for example, the most commonly used pigment is carbon black, which is a carbon-based compound that creates a strong black color. There are organic pigments used in creating colored inks for newspapers such as plant compounds and crushed shellfish shells.
The inorganic chemicals used in the production of newspaper ink are quite common and include a number of different minerals and combinations to create various colors. Common color pigments include: cadmium yellow, which includes cadmium and sulfur; Prussian blue, which uses iron, carbon and nitrogen; and chromium green, which includes chromium and oxygen. Titanium white is often used in the creation of other pigments or on its own to adjust colors used in printing and is typically made with titanium and oxygen. Wax and paraffin are also often added, to help the ink dry faster and make it more stable once printed on paper.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
