Lithographic and letterpress ink vehicles from vegetable oils

Our objectives for this study were to produce vegetable oil-based printing ink vehicles that did not require any petroleum components, which meet or exceed industry standards for rub-off resistance, viscosity and tackiness for a variety of printing applications. These objectives were satisfactorily met. Vehicles were completely compatible with carbon black, making them suitable for black ink formulations. In addition, the resulting vehicles had exceptionally light colors, and permitted formulations of colored inks that had substantially reduced pigment levels compared to industry standards.