Ink Meets Wood: Siegwerk Presents New Range of Sustainable Inks

Siegwerk is now offering UniXYL, its second generation of sustainable water-based inks for paper and board applications. The new product range is partially based on natural resins and provides an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional inks.
 
Water-based inks have grown in popularity and demand. They are characterized by low VOC (volatile organic compounds) emissions and lack of flammability, making it easier to comply with relevant regulations.
 
Siegwerk combines this technology with a basis of renewable components. The result is the UniXYL series – sustainable inks offering an environmental benefit. The bio-based resin contained in UniXYL inks is obtained from lignocellulosic bio-mass, which is available in particular in feedstocks from forestry.
 
“As one of the leading ink manufacturers, we want to set a good example and champion the development of eco-friendly inks. At the same time we have tried to reduce the bio-mass obtained from food or feed plants, which we have now achieved with UniXYL,” explained Pierre-Antoine Noirot, VP of the Global Innovation Network at Siegwerk.
 
The fact that the bio-mass used in UniXYL is composed of forestry or agricultural waste products is reflected in the product name: XYL hinting at the Greek word “xylon,” which translated means “wood.”
 
While the new ink range is water-based and also contains bio-mass components, customers benefit from the same level of performance compared to conventional water-based inks.
“UniXYL provides excellent printing results with outstanding color strength, great print quality and good rub resistance at stable viscosity,” said Noirot. This printing ink range is suitable for paper and board applications, including those intended for food packaging. It complies with current product safety regulations, such as the Swiss Ordinance. UniXYL has successfully completed several beta trials under industrial conditions at some customers’ printing facilities.
 
Siegwerk produces its water-based and eco-friendly inks in a dedicated laboratory at its Technical Center in Annemasse (France). The hybrid technology of the new UniXYL ink range – modified bio-polymers combined with standard oil-derived acrylic polymers used as a binder – goes back to the development of the UniRICS product line, which was successfully launched in 2011. Like the new UniXYL ink range, UniRICS was developed by Siegwerk’s Global Innovation Network, the company’s in-house research network, which is tasked with increasing the share of plant-based raw materials in all Siegwerk products.
 
Siegwerk is committed to a comprehensive approach to sustainability. Sustainability means progress to Siegwerk. That’s why the company is driving the development of eco-friendly inks. Assessing ways of enhancing the ecological footprint of the company’s inks with no loss of performance is one of its key research and development efforts.
 
With the motto “We color the future,” Siegwerk will exhibit at this year’s drupa in Duesseldorf, Germany from May 31 to June 10, 2016.