Canon Ink Preservative

[Emulator]

I noticed an EU safety regulation notice with a recently obtained Canon printer, which read as follows:-

"Ink contains a preservative to control microbial deterioration. Contains 1,2-benzisothiazol-3(2H)-one. May produce an allergic reaction. Contains less than 30% of components with unknown hazards to the aquatic environment."

This may be common knowledge in this learned community, but I can't say I have seen the specific detail before.

See:
http://msdssearch.dow.com/Published...fety/pdfs/noreg/233-00793.pdf&fromPage=GetDoc

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Labelling requirements may have been changed in your country recently, but such an additive to inks is quite common. The glycoles in the solvent are quite good nutritients for bacteria and fungus and need to be controlled for longer term storage of inks. Other inks come as well with such stuff, it may be declared or not or hidden behind neutral wordings when you call up the material safety data sheets (MSDS) of inks - you may read ' contains other undisclosed ingredients less than 1%' or you just get a chemical name not telling you what it does or you get just 'other' without a CAS registration number. There are several ways to hide such additives - a grandfather clause because it is in use since a long time or it is called 'undisclosed for intellectual property reasons' . Inks are not for consumption so rules to disclose them are quite different to food labelling requirements. You may have a look to this posting showing what can happen within ink. https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/i-am-now-tired-of-the-international-business.9735/

 

[Emulator]

Canon ink seems to remain in good condition for years. (Your opinion may differ)

Do any of our popular refill inks use this preservative?

 

[Roy Sletcher]

Canon ink seems to remain in good condition for years. (Your opinion may differ)

Do any of our popular refill inks use this preservative?

I think for refillers our takeaway from this is to toss any refill inks after two years.

At around $10 for 100ml, it is cheaper than risking possible clog problems and print-head damage.


rs

later edit - Of course I am excluding Epson OEM Ultrachrome K3 pigment inks that I use to refill my Epson 3880, which seem to work fine even after several years of storage.

is it possible that the suspension of the pigment particles in a liquid react in a different manner to dyes? Just a guess!

 

[The Hat]

I found that newer inks were more inclined to play up where as the older stuff was made far better back then.
I still have unopened bottles of 3rd party inks dating back to 2009 and have no intention of dumping them, most of my ink are aging because of lack of use, but they still work perfectly fine unlike me...

 

[mikling]

All quality ink, OEM and Aftermarket use biocide to control microbial issues. Like any type of drug or antiseptics, there are certain strains of microbes that it will not be effective on.

The other thing to consider is that living microbes can be a fungus or bacteria. Biocides used are not in the domain of the ink maker but actually a chemical supplier and these biocides are all proprietary to each chemical company.

Now take a look at this.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/biocide-bacteria-fungi-algae-d_1678.html

The key thing to note in the pattern the effectiveness of biocides is a see saw relationship between bacteria and fungi in non oxidizing biocides. Oxidizing biocides will obviously not be good for ink. This means that you should pay attention to the exposure of ink during refill as fungal spores are floating in the air if a bad strain lands in the ink....then..... Contamination is not predictable but can be a random event.

This is one reason that keeping large bottles with repeated openings and exposure is not good. The use of squeeze bottles also minimize the risk of exposure as well. If using very large bottles, a small portion should be transferred to a smaller bottle and that one used to refill and consumed quickly.

 

[Emulator]

Thank you Mike, for the additional facts on the subject. I notice in the msds document that there is an attitude of ownership of the biocide mentioned. Maybe there is a patent and a company such as Dow would protect its products vigorously. Presumably it is a particularly good biocide for the purpose. It also states that it is not one for 'do it yourself users', that's assuming you could get hold of it anyway, not doubt they are choosy about to whom they sell it.

Is there any value in "sterilisation" of the ink in the user squeezy bottle, by any of the many recognised means,10 secs in the microwave?

 

[mikling]

I've never tried the microwave but generally, sterilisation of anything that can be contaminated is good. However, there comes a point where it can be overdone and the risk aspect is over amplified. If you feel better sterilising ink bottles when the ink is empty no harm is done.

I suppose, keep it clean and minimize exposure is adequate and practical.

Remember these chemicals all break down over time and their effectiveness will degrade and thus the level of protection. So for example, if you do not get contamination in your ink and the biocide breaks down you might get away with it. Now what if the biocide has broken down and the ink gets contaminated...then the situation is different. The thing is you cannot tell when the biocide has broken down by visual nor by physical properties. I think Roy mentioned that in reality, refill ink is not expensive and thus it makes no sense to take chances by storing large amounts for long periods. It may well be safe but you never know at what point it has degraded enough. It's like putting your finger into a cup of hot water, you can't tell when it is hot enough to hurt until you put your finger in. If someone says it is hot, I'll assume it is hot enough to hurt, chancing it is not in my nature.

 

[Emulator]

Yes, you a right, playing around with the ink is likely to damage the biocide as much as any contamination.

I still have a squeezy bottle full of the old IS magenta ink. It has now developed a thick layer at the top of the bottle, which will remain tightly sealed.

 

[pharmacist]

You can use filter sterilisation for dye inks. I use this in my pharmacy to sterilise eye drops. Pigment inks cannot be filter sterilised.