Noida based Afflatus Gravures and researchers of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee have developed environment friendly technology for flexible printing while using water based ink with laser cylinders.

Due to the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in solvent-based inks, water-based ink has received considerable interest in the ink industry due to sustainable and environment friendly printing materials.

The recently developed solution is useful for the development and commercial production of water-based ink and also Afflatus laser engraved cylinder having reduced engraving cell depth compared to other electronically engraved printing cylinders which result in less consumption of printing ink, hence reducing the raw materials consumption of the printing process.

The use of water-based ink also reduced the carbon footprint by 3.04 kg. The current study shows that strict implementation of water-based ink has a high potential for saving the cost and reducing the emission of volatile organic compounds, which are very dangerous  to the ambient environment, humans, and society.

The cost of printing one kg of polyethylene terephthalate film with water based ink was reduced by USD 1.85, and volatile organic compounds emissions were reduced from 3373 ppm to 2478 ppm compared to solvent-based ink.

Under a project of ‘UchchatarAvishkarYojana’ programme of the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, Afflatus and IIT Roorkee has jointly developed water based printing solution for the printing industries and also got patent of the technology.

Afflatus Gravure from Noida bagged the Most Challenging Project of the Year at the PrintWeek Awards 2023, held at The Westin Mumbai Powai Lake, talked about a solvent based inks to replace water based inks.