Ink \u2013 it\u2019s something we all use. Whether a pen to \u201cink a deal\u201d or write a quick note, or ink for our printers, it\u2019s something we rely on pretty much every day. Even tattoos use ink so it\u2019s literally all around us and even on us. And nowadays the right ink can be even more powerful than the sword because it can give life instead of take away life. We\u2019ll get into how in a minute, but first, isn\u2019t all ink bioink?<\/p>\n
Short answer, nope but it\u2019s a bit more to the story than that. While modern day ink is usually composed of petroleum ingredients, ink has a very biobased beginning. It is believed that the first writing ink was invented in 2500 B. C. by mixing carbon with gum. Over history, it shifted from a kind of soot by-product of fire to resin of pine trees, graphite ground with water, iron salts, tannin from gallnuts, hawthorn branches, walnut oil, soy oil, and even corn and canola oils.<\/p>\n
But somewhere around the mid-1900s petroleum-based inks were discovered and shown to be a bit better in terms of drying qualities. Petroleum-based inks became pretty widespread until the oil shortages of 1970s made vegetable oils a more cost effective alternative especially for printing inks.<\/p>\n
But we are seeing a trend towards more and more biobased inks, even if some are not 100% biobased. No, we aren\u2019t going back to building a fire and taking the soot from it (well, maybe someone out there is), but rather there are a slew of companies that are being quite innovative in their approach to ink. And some are even using bioink to 3D print human organs, literally giving ink the ability to save lives.
\nHere are some of the latest ones we\u2019ve seen.<\/p>\n
Sun Chemical\u2019s SunPak
\nJust last week in the United Kingdom, Sun Chemical\u2019s biobased offset inkset for food packaging, dubbed SunPak FSP, has been certified 77% biobased by Beta Analytic, as reported in NUU.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor some years Sun Chemical has been working to promote sustainable solutions, such as SunPak FSP, and our ongoing approach to sustainability guides the way we develop, manufacture and distribute products, as well as how we work with our customers and suppliers,\u201d says Felipe Mellado, Chief Marketing Officer and Board Member at Sun Chemical. \u201cIt\u2019s therefore gratifying now to be able to provide independent evidence of the sustainable quality of SunPak FSP\u2014one of our most popular ink ranges.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sun Chemical says demand for Sunpak FSP has grown by double digits annually in Europe since its launch.<\/p>\n
Beta Analytic is a leader in Carbon-14 measurements. At its testing laboratory in Florida the lab measured the ratio of radiocarbon in the inkset relative to a National Institute of Standards and Technology modern reference standard (SRM 4990C) and the results were accredited to ISO\/IEC 17025:2005 accreditation, the highest level of recognized quality any testing or calibration laboratory can attain.<\/p>\n
The ratio of radiocarbon was calculated as a percentage and reported as the percentage of \u201cBiobased Carbon\u201d, which indicates the percentage of carbon in the inkset from \u201cnatural\u201d (plant-based) sources versus \u201csynthetic\u201d (petrochemical) sources. The test showed that, on average, 77% of the total organic carbon in the inks in the SunPak FSP range is biobased carbon content, with only 23% being fossil carbon, of which the majority relates to pigments.<\/p>\n
Ingevity\u2019s AltaPrint
\nAlso last week, South-Carolina based Ingevity, a specialty chemicals company, launched a new environmentally friendly AltaPrint ink resin product line. A phenol- and formaldehyde-free modified rosin resin, AltaPrint is formulated for use in heatset and sheetfed inks for the packaging and commercial printing markets and is available globally.<\/p>\n
According to their press release, \u201cThe AltaPrint family of products offers customers a more eco-friendly rosin resin alternative to petroleum-based phenolic modified resins without sacrificing performance characteristics such as gloss and film hardness. In addition, Altaprint\u2019s increased bio-content means it contains more renewable raw materials than phenolic-based competitors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Living Ink\u2019s Algae Ink
\nIn Colorado, a startup is producing sustainable ink for packaging using algae as feedstock, as reported in NUU in May. Living Ink is using proprietary technology to take the crude pigment from algae and purify it, mill it, and form it into a dispersion that can then be formulated into a variety of products including ink \u2013 so it\u2019s biobased and compostable.<\/p>\n
\u201cI recall thinking, why are we making disposable packaging ink with materials that are made to last an eternity?\u201d Fulbright writes in an issue of Cosmetics Business. \u201cWhy not use pigments that nature has already developed and which grow on a massive scale?\u201d<\/p>\n
Algae Black has also been found cut carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 200% per ton produced compared with traditional carbon black, Fulbright adds.<\/p>\n
In fact, as reported in NUU in August, Living Ink is partnering with printers to bring Algae Ink to commercialization. Shelf life of the ink was a challenge the company has now overcome by \u201crefining the pigment into a purer form, while tweaking the ink formulation to keep pigments suspended in solution,\u201d Dr. Scott Fulbright, Living Ink\u2019s CEO told Ink World.<\/p>\n
The ink is very similar to other ink formulations making it a \u201cdrop-in\u201d solution so printers can use it just like any other ink. Even better, they developed several different colors of algae to make different colored inks, though black ink is still the one with the most demand and the one they are focused on scaling up.<\/p>\n
And interestingly, Living Ink has brought in commercial partner Cellana, along with Neste, on a new commercial agreement with POS Bio-Sciences. Cellana signed a term sheet for $27 million of debt-based project financing with an undisclosed project financing partner for a proposed 54-acre commercial algae facility.<\/p>\n
The 54-acre commercial algae facility is expected to produce 700 to 800 metric tons of KA32 algae (on a dry weight basis) annually with estimated pre-tax cash margins of over 50%, based on the yield, price, and cost estimates provided to the project financing partner. The project financing partner has also indicated the availability of more than $100 million of additional debt-based project financing for subsequent commercial facilities, based on the success of the proposed 54-acre commercial algae facility.<\/p>\n
KA32 is a strain of the genus Nannochloropsis enriched with high-value EPA Omega-3 oils, and the algae meal remaining after extraction of EPA Omega-3 oils has been successfully demonstrated in large-scale animal feed trials and in commercial algae-based ink products sold by Cellana\u2019s partner Living Ink Technologies.<\/p>\n
Chalmers University Wood-based Ink
\nIn Sweden, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have succeeded in 3D printing with a wood-based ink in a way that mimics the unique \u2018ultrastructure\u2019 of wood, as reported in NUU in July. Through emulating the natural cellular architecture of wood, they now present the ability to create green products derived from trees, with unique properties \u2013 everything from clothes, packaging, and furniture to healthcare and personal care products.<\/p>\n
By previously converting wood pulp into a nanocellulose gel, researchers at Chalmers had already succeeded in creating a type of ink that could be 3D printed. Now, they present a major progression \u2013 successfully interpreting and digitising wood\u2019s genetic code, so that it can instruct a 3D printer.<\/p>\n
It means that now, the arrangement of the cellulose nanofibrils can be precisely controlled during the printing process, to actually replicate the desirable ultrastructure of wood. Being able to manage the orientation and shape means that they can capture those useful properties of natural wood.<\/p>\n
A further advance on previous research is the addition of hemicellulose, a natural component of plant cells, to the nanocellulose gel. The hemicellulose acts as a glue, giving the cellulose sufficient strength to be useful, in a similar manner to the natural process of lignification, through which cell walls are built.<\/p>\n
Sugarcane Bagasse Waste for Ink
\nAs reported in NUU in February, in Scandinavia and Argentina, researchers are using sugarcane waste bagasse in 3D printing. So sweet to use something already used all over the world for ethanol, food, etc. for yet another cool product. Even better, it\u2019s waste that is already there.<\/p>\n
\u201cBagasse is an underutilized agro-industrial residue with great potential as raw material for the production of cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) for a range of applications,\u201d the researchers say in their paper, \u201cPulping and Retreatment Affect the Characteristics of Bagasse Inks for Three-dimensional Printing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The work involved extracting bagasse fibers using soda and hydrothermal treatment. According to the researchers\u2014who 3D printed ears and noses to demonstrate the material\u2019s utility\u2014the pulping process is important to design inks for 3D printing that have appropriate surface chemistry, chemical composition and nanofibrillar morphology. \u201cThis is an aspect that has not been considered before in the design and formulation of inks for 3D bioprinting,\u201d says author Gary Chinga-Carrasco. The CNFs produced were less nanofibrillated than corresponding material produced by soda pulping.<\/p>\n
Bioink that is as alive as you \u2013 the next level of bioink
\nSo bioink technically has been around for what seems like forever in history but the innovations nowadays are impressive nonetheless. But now it even goes beyond what is found in nature like tree resin or plant oils and is moving towards a sort of Frankenstein laboratory of creating something that\u2019s alive. We can hear it now, \u201cIt\u2019s alive! It\u2019s alive!\u201d<\/p>\n
As reported in NUU in April, Israel-based Tel Aviv University researchers have \u201cprinted\u201d the world\u2019s first 3D vascularized engineered heart using a patient\u2019s own cells and biological materials \u2013 taking bioink to a whole new level. Until now, scientists in regenerative medicine \u2014 a field positioned at the crossroads of biology and technology \u2014 have been successful in printing only simple tissues without blood vessels.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first time anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart replete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers,\u201d says Prof. Tal Dvir of TAU\u2019s School of Molecular Cell Biology and Biotechnology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and Sagol Center for Regenerative Biotechnology, who led the research for the study.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis heart is made from human cells and patient-specific biological materials. In our process these materials serve as the bioinks, substances made of sugars and proteins that can be used for 3D printing of complex tissue models,\u201d Prof. Dvir says. \u201cPeople have managed to 3D-print the structure of a heart in the past, but not with cells or with blood vessels. Our results demonstrate the potential of our approach for engineering personalized tissue and organ replacement in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another company working on the \u201cIt\u2019s Alive\u201d 3D printing of human tissue is Sweden-based Cellink which is using bioink and 3D printing technology to create biomaterial structures with living cells, as reported in NUU in May 2017. Long are the days of waiting on a list for transplants for new body parts or of having to test consumer products on animals, now that you can 3D print them. Cellink is finding a growing interest for its printers in the cosmetic sector for things like new noses and ears, especially in countries like China. The company was doing quite well after going public within 10 months of being founded and having its shares 1070% oversubscribed. With only 20 people in the company, Cellink\u2019s customers are still mainly universities but some big-name cosmetic companies are looking into 3D printing of human tissue as a way to avoid animal testing.<\/p>\n
Bottom Line
\nWhile bioink may have started thousands of years ago with fire residue and soot on a cave wall, it has evolved using things we never dreamed of and even becoming \u201calive\u201d. It will be fascinating to see where the future goes with bioinks around the world and what can be accomplished.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ink \u2013 it\u2019s something we all use. Whether a pen to \u201cink a deal\u201d or write a quick note, or ink for our printers, it\u2019s something we rely on pretty much every day. Even tattoos use ink so it\u2019s literally all around us and even on us. And nowadays the right ink can be even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[10588,6162,15864],"supplier":[16146,8249,16012,27306,11708,2226],"class_list":["post-66729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-3dprinting","tag-cellulose","tag-inks","supplier-cellink","supplier-chalmers-university-of-technology","supplier-keyleaf","supplier-living-ink-technologies","supplier-neste","supplier-tel-aviv-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66729"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=66729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}