More Sustainable and Safer Printing Ink with the shift to PTFE-free

January 2, 2023March 5, 2023 Vihaan Nagal 0 Comments

Inks are vital to the increasingly published, printed, and packaged world. From a soap refill bag to a cardboard cereal or box, canned and beverages bottles to bread bags and cosmetic or pharmaceutical insert DFU, printing inks give eye-catching designs to sparkle interest, wording, and QR codes to convey vital product information.

For brands to maintain that impact and information, nothing must rub off on the long journey through supply chains to the consumer.

Traditionally, additive PTFE/wax blends have been employed to develop strong rub resistance in printing inks. But growing problems about their sustainability profiles and regulatory constraints raise the need for PTFE-free alternatives.

Amid a rapid increase in the need for flexible and customized packaging, and with more different and more brands and product manufacturers seeking to reflect sustainability concerns for packaging materials in their ink choices too, there’s a critical opportunity for ink manufacturers to examine beyond PTFE as they become safe and more sustainable effective products for a wide range of markets.

In addition to Polyethylene (PE) wax-based additives like Ceridust 3610 and Ceridust 3030, which have demonstrated success in substituting PE/PTFE blends, Clariant also runs the next step in offering additives based on renewable and sustainable raw materials, with a continued focus on performance and cost optimization.

Our Ceridust 8330 renewable polymer/wax compound is one of these alternatives – a predominantly biobased wax blend that can replace PE/PTFE additives in all kinds of printing inks. It achieves more performance-wise with less additive and offers a more sustainable and environmentally-compatible option to the industry.

Sustainable, durable inks

“It’s a revolutionary, predominantly bio-based additive. Its mix of flexible yet tough characteristics makes it a powerful rub resistance additive for all types of ink systems. We are proud of its superior rub resistance properties versus PTFE-containing material, meaning that even higher mechanical resistance can be achieved. This lengthens the ink’s durability on finished goods, which look more attractive for longer,” Michael explains.

While uncertainty exists around regulatory changes that are to come, it can be challenging for businesses to anticipate the next steps. With an advanced, forward-looking portfolio of bio-based, sustainable additives for printing inks, Clariant takes a proactive, pro-safety and pro-environment approach to help customers meet application performance needs and navigate this uncertain and fast-changing landscape.