Once upon a time, striking colors were the sole consideration when creating new paints and dyes – with disastrous consequences as arsenic and lead-based formulations brought sickness and death to factories and homes. As Victorian as this sounds – it’s true that manufacturers have not always scrutinized chemicals for their impact on people and the environment, with paints containing unsafe levels of lead triggering toy recalls to this day.

2007 saw the introduction of the EU’s REACH regulation (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and restriction of Chemicals) aimed at protecting human and environmental health from the risks that can be posed by chemicals. REACH formalized procedures for collecting and assessing information on the properties and hazards of substances – an important first step to improving consumer and worker safety.

Thanks to REACH data, the harmful side effects of many substances previously considered safe have been revealed. Substance reclassifications have accelerated – and will continue. The body of data collected is growing, bringing substances in both domestic and industrial settings under scrutiny – including substances and pigments key to the production of colorful printing inks.

Reformulation demands have become an everyday reality for ink developers, who are working continuously to eliminate harmful substances – particularly those that have been re-classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, and reprotoxic (CMR) – from ink formulations, as demanded by EuPIA standards.

The European Commission’s new Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) framework could enable ink developers to anticipate reclassifications, and, together with digitalization, accelerate development cycles for safer inks.

Safe and Sustainable by Design
In October 2020, the European Commission published its Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, as part of the EU’s zero pollution ambition and a key commitment of the European Green Deal. The strategy aims to better protect citizens and the environment, and boost innovation for safe and sustainable chemicals.

The Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) framework builds on this strategy. Whilst not yet mandated, this voluntary approach aims to guide the innovation process for chemicals and materials across industries, protecting human health and the environment by making products safer and more sustainable.

Crucially, the SSbD framework promotes innovation in the development of alternatives to hazardous substances. So, how does it impact ink developers, manufacturers, and end-users?

Aligning printing ink formulation with SSbD principles
Embracing SSbD principles enables ink developers and manufacturers to anticipate and mitigate the potential impact of reformulation and meet evolving regulatory changes around sustainability.

For a holistic view of all processes involved in the formulation, manufacture, and use of commercial printing inks, manufacturers must look beyond their in-house processes and consider implications upstream, in the sourcing of materials, and downstream, in disposal and recycling following use. Taking a balanced view across the lifecycle is important to ensure that gains in some areas don’t have repercussions in others.

In practical terms, SSbD’s proposed assessment of all materials and processes regarding their impact on users and the environment could mean:

• Avoiding the use of toxic and hazardous chemicals to minimize exposure throughout the product lifecycle, creating CMR-free ink formulations, with only low emission of pollutants.
• Assessing materials used for their impact on production employees and end users, such as press operators and maintenance personnel.
• Using raw materials from renewable sources, where possible.
• Prioritizing formulations with short drying times to help reduce energy use.
• Using packaging that reduces user contact to the ink, with reusable or recyclable options preferred.
• Identifying digital tools to support formulation testing and development to reduce chemical contact and enhance employee safety.

Digitalization in printing ink formulation
Digital tools identified in the list above could include systems encompassing AI, robotics, and automation, which when combined with the other SSbD principles, can help ink manufacturers to speed up the identification of new ink formulations, allowing for increased chemical testing, while minimizing contact and risk to chemists. Digital technologies can significantly support safe and sustainable research and development of new ink formulations, accelerating development tasks and processes, and enabling faster supply of improved safer ink formulations to end users. Technologies deployed to enhance the ink formulation and manufacturing process include machine learning and AI tools to identify target formulations, and robotic and automation tools to accelerate development while reducing cost, waste, and manual labor.

Machine learning tools trained using proven and reliable data regarding existing ingredients, processes, and ink properties can identify relationships and fill gaps. This automated, detailed analysis might yield new formulations that otherwise might not have been found or would have taken lengthy human analysis to discover. AI can also suggest potential substitutes for problematic substances and provide the capability to predict which new formulations may be the most viable prospects for further lab-based experimentation.

AI and machine learning can reduce the number of experiments required to find an ink formulation with the desired physical properties, i.e. reliable and precise drop placement, by up to 70%. AI can also assist in identifying a new ink’s end-user properties, including adhesion, durability, color, and appearance on the substrate, to optimize the ink formulation for commercial printing.

As a next step, automation can offer further improvements to efficiency at the experimentation stage. Mixing robots can create formulations identified as ‘promising’ faster than manual processes. Being able to conduct ‘hands-off’ experiments frees up lab technicians’ time to consider future formulations. It also allows for higher precision handling of materials and cleaning fluids, greatly reducing the amount of chemicals used, the volume of chemicals going to waste, and CO2 emissions, making the process safer and more sustainable.

Forward-looking ink manufacturers already embrace digital technologies to improve their ink formulation processes. They are eager to reap the benefits of digitalization in terms of time to market for new formulations, sustainability gains, and waste reduction.

Leading the charge is the ‘chemist of the future’– a tech-savvy, digitally-minded individual, comfortable with both the chemical and technological – whose role will be critical to the successful implementation of an efficient, digitized R&D process. Using digital technologies, the ‘chemist of the future’ will be able to identify and exclude substances that are more likely to be reclassified – not only in the short term but looking as far into the future as possible – pre-empt potential supply issues, avoiding complex and costly reformulations at a later stage.

Conclusion
To protect their brand customers, and end consumers, converters should always look to partner with a well-known and reputable ink supplier who invests in a future-oriented approach to ink formulation and manufacture; or – even better – an equipment supplier who develops and manufactures inks in-house, with formulations developed to deliver optimum print results within their inkjet presses.

A partner that employs the SSbD framework and invests strongly in the latest digital technologies to enhance ink formulation and manufacturing processes will be able to anticipate and be ready to pre-empt regulatory changes. This foresight will ensure timely delivery of novel, compliant consumables that will keep packaging print safe and colorful in years to come.