Eco solvent-based ceramic inks and glue
Ceramic tiles are decorated via inkjet printing. During printing the organic substances in the liquid vehicle starts evaporating and disperse in the environment around the printer. Some of the substances start cracking and decomposing in an uncontrolled manner. As a consequence, around the printer, there can be an emission of toxic and smelling substances. This process even continues in the kiln, where remaining organic substances evaporate and burn, thereby forming noxious smelling substances.
Ecolor Ink & Glue are licensable technologies for the production of new, innovative eco-solvent inks that significantly reduce harmful emissions and odor while retaining the same printing performance as the best traditional inks and glue currently available.
Ecolor glue
Ecolor Glue has excellent production stability:
- The extra-long drying time allows the application of grit even at later stage and guarantees successful application on a body with a high degree of absorption.
- Ecolor Glue provides an extremely smooth texture on full-field surfaces, with low emissions.
- This digital glue, combined with special grits, allows different surfaces and effects, minimizing defects and surface porosity.
- It contains a particular flux that optimizes the application of the grit, obtaining a perfect homogeneity and surface flatness.
Ecolor ink
Ecolor Ink comprises innovative eco-solvent ceramic inks that have the same printing performance as traditional solvent-based ink.
Ecolor Ink is environmentally friendly as it contains odorless components that significantly reduce harmful emissions: 60% less FORMALDEHYDE, 50% less ALDEHYDE, 50% less VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and 20% less COT (total organic carbon).
Ecolor Ink is suitable for all tile production facilities: there is no need for additional investment in equipment such as post combustors.
Evaporation
Water-based (WB), glycol-ether-based (GE) and fatty-acid-ester-based (FAE) inks start evaporating at temperatures lower than 200 degrees Celsius and even before entering the production machinery (kiln). These organic substances evaporate and burn in an uncontrolled manner thereby forming noxious smelling substances.
In contrast, our Ecolor Ink only starts evaporating at a temperature between 200 and 250 degrees Celsius, reached only within the production machinery (kiln). The substance is selected to burn at high temperature so that the combustion is more efficient and the generation of toxic substances is limited.
Comparison
Our Ecolor Ink has very good performance regarding its drying time on printing heads, but also on its low odor, VOC and aldehyde emissions compared with water-based, glycol-ether-based and fatty-acid-ester-based inks.
