VOC’s (volatile organic compounds)

Organic compounds with enough vapor pressure to vaporize into the atmosphere under normal conditions. In litho sheetfed inks, VOC’s are high boiling point petroleum distillates (mineral oils), used to control tack & setting speed. Though early quickset inks contained as much as 30% VOC’s, today few sheetfed litho inks contain more than 15 or 20% VOC’s, and most contain less than 10%. Popular “Bio inks” from Graphic Ink contain only trace amounts of VOC’s (about 2%).