Virus Introduces Eco-Sustainable Black Ink for Textile Screen Printing

21 March 2022: The vast majority of black inks and dyes used in the various industries are made with a highly polluting pigment called Carbon Black, obtained from the incomplete combustion of heavy oils. For each ton of this material produced, more than 3 tons of CO2 (the main greenhouse gas causing global warming) are emitted. This high carbon footprint, the health risks, and the dependence on fossil fuels associated with this material have led to a rapid growth in demand for alternative ecological inks.

So, ITALY based Virus Inks has introduced a new black eco sustainable ink called Virus Rethink Black, for textile screen printing. The ink has been formulated in partnership with Bioforcetech, a Company of the Silicon Valley. Bioforcetech has developed a BIO-DRYER and PYROLYSIS system able to turn the organic waste into a precious biochar with high coloring properties.

As disclosed by the company, the manufacturing process starts by diverting organic waste such as food waste or biosolids earmarked for landfill where it would have anaerobically broken down into greenhouse gasses. Then the organic components are dried with the help of thermophilic bacteria in a BioDryer and next submitted to pyrolysis in the absence of oxygen in a self-sustained net zero energy process. Subsequently the obtained biochar is further processed in order to be integrated in the production of Virus inks. This is how Rethink Black is born !

Virus Rethink Black is an ecologically alternative to the black inks with fossil fuels intensive content, highly polluting and toxic for humans. It is a new ready to use ink with an excellent black of great color saturation that ensures the best performances in terms of productivity and printing quality comparable to the ones of the best water based inks. High-performance ink, easy to print and with good durability on a wide range of fabrics and materials.

www.virusinks.com