INK THAN SYSTEM

Yingyi Xiao

DES 40A – Energy, Materials & Design Across Time 

Professor Christina Cogdel

Mar 10th, 2026

Raw Material Impacts of Ink Tank Systems

As technology has evolved, printing has shifted from traditional inkjet printers that relied on replacing small, disposable ink cartridges to ink tank systems that are refillable and can last for extended periods. Ink tank systems have revolutionized inkjet printing by storing ink in built-in tanks and refilling them via refill bottles, rather than replacing cartridges (Brother International Corporation). This shift has lowered printing costs and reduced visible plastic waste from cartridges, making ink tank systems generally considered more environmentally friendly (5 Industry Secrets). However, from a life cycle perspective, sustainability depends not only on the waste generated during the use phase, but also on the materials used and consumed by the ink tank system, such as plastics, ink chemicals, and the internal fiber materials used to store and control the ink (AISPA). Although the ink tank system is considered eco friendly,  its environmental impact actually begins at the stage of raw materials. Such as plastic production, chemical ink synthesis, and fiber material manufacturing,  the extraction of these raw materials for these already takes a heavy impact on the environment.

Fiber materials are key for controlling fluid flow in the ink tank design, but their production creates the earliest environmental footprint. Fiber materials in raw material production are to help store ink and control its flow within the ink tank. According to Olsen's patent documents, "The ink container includes a reservoir for containing ink. Also included in the ink container is at least one continuous fiber defining a three dimensional porous member.."This means it is not a "natural" one. Introduction to Polymerization and Depolymerization explained that "the key feature of coordination polymerization is its use of a metal catalyst, often in combination with a co-catalyst, to control the polymerization process"(Ribeiro et al.). This means it requires a specific catalyst system. According to industry standards for polymer production, a co-catalyst such as triethylaluminum must be added to initiate the reaction. Olsen's patent documents also mentioned "The use of the capillary material 40 of the present invention which is preferably a bi-component fiber having polypropylene core and a polyethylene terephthalate sheath greatly simplifies the process of filling the ink container"((Olsen et al.). These patent documents prove the fiber network inside the ink tank is typically made of polypropylene. In addition, Olsen's patent documents describe how these fibers can be bonded together by heat at contact points to form a self-supporting three-dimensional network, meaning the system requires a large amount of processed polymer fibers to construct this internal structure (Olsen et al.). Transforming raw plastic resin into fine, porous fiber structures requires processes such as melt spinning or thermal fusion. To create the polypropylene used for these fibers, we need to consume large amounts of hydrogen and use heavy metal catalysts. The metals needed to extract , and the catalysts represent another "primary energy" burden. This shows that even tiny fiber structures impose a heavy ecological burden in the very early stages of their life cycle.

Making the plastic ink tank body requires a lot of energy and oil.  According to technical descriptions from Brother USA, these systems rely on large, "built-in reservoirs" that are designed to be a permanent part of the machine's infrastructure (Brother USA). From an Epson perspective, these chemical reservoirs are intended to be long-lasting reservoirs that may not leak for years, while they are constantly exposed to high concentrations of chemicals (Epson).This gives an enormous material footprint before the printer is even powered on. Although manufacturers always state that the plastic usage for a printer without cartridges is significantly lower, it can also be calculated that the material consumption of the reservoir in the Raw Material Extraction stage is however by far higher. Since the closed system of these types of systems has to last for years, they can't be produced from low grade or recycled plastic. These materials are often too flexible and may not always provide a homogeneous consistency. Therefore, a higher quality material such as High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) or a specially developed type of Polypropylene (PP) is needed.The "primary source" for these polymers is almost exclusively crude oil and natural gas. As Geyer stated in Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made"most synthetic polymers are obtained from fossil fuels through intensive oil and gas extraction"(Geyer et al.). To obtain the raw materials for a single ink tank body, vast amounts of petroleum must be extracted from the earth, a process that leads to habitat destruction and significant methane leaks. According to the Impacts of Oil and Gas Exploration, “The primary causes of the environmental effects caused by generating oil and gas are production activities, the handling of waste, noise from well operations, compressor or pump stations, stacks, automobiles and machinery, worker presence, and potential spills” (S. A. Olaleye et al., 200).  In the raw material stage, oil and gas extraction not only consumes non-renewable resources but also releases greenhouse gases such as methane. And also leads to habitat destruction and large-scale greenhouse gas emissions.  Furthermore, the "secondary processing" of these raw materials adds to the ecological cost. To turn raw oil into a high-density polymer, the petroleum must undergo "cracking" to produce monomers like ethylene or propylene. These gases are then polymerized under extreme heat and pressure. According to AISPA, this entire industrial chain—from the oil well to the chemical plant—is incredibly energy-intensive and relies on a constant supply of virgin fossil fuels (AISPA). Flint Group also notes that the global supply chain for these plastic resins is currently facing challenges because the raw chemical feedstocks are becoming harder to refine and transport (Flint Group). The result of using these high-density materials is a "front-loaded" environmental cost. While a traditional printer uses small amounts of plastic over time, an ink tank system requires a huge amount of raw petroleum-based material at the very beginning of its life cycle. Even though Brother and Epson emphasize that this design reduces cartridge waste, the "durable plastic housings" create long-term "disposal" issues because the high-density polymers are much harder to break down or recycle once they are contaminated with ink residues (Google Patents). This means that the high-quality oil we extract today for these "eco-friendly" tanks will likely end up as permanent waste in the future. Compared with these solid plastics, the chemically unstable ink inside the tanks poses the most persistent environmental risk during the raw material extraction phase.

The heaviest part of the entire environmental cost isn't the plastic—it's actually the ink. The extraction and synthesis of raw materials for ink is the greatest environmental burden because of how complex and toxic these chemicals are from the very start. Ink isn't just "colored water." According to AISPA, it is a complicated mixture of "chemical dyes, pigments, and solvents" (AISPA). To get these materials, companies have to mine for minerals and pump for petroleum, which are the primary sources for almost every ink ingredient.The process of making these chemicals is dangerous and dirty. As Othman et al. point out, the production of ink involves serious "health, safety, and environmental risks... especially those related to solvents and pigments" (Othman 41). These are the solids that give ink its color, and they don't just appear out of nowhere. Most pigments require the mining of minerals and heavy metals from the ground. For example, to get white or bright colors, companies often mine for titanium dioxide or other metal oxides. This "raw material extraction" often causes massive soil erosion and heavy metal runoff into local water supplies long before the ink is even made. This means the very first step of getting the "color" for our ink is already dangerous for the planet.These solvents are usually petroleum-based, meaning their "raw material" stage starts at an oil well, just like the plastic. To make the ink work for high-quality printing, manufacturers have to add even more synthetic chemicals to control the "viscosity, stability, and formulation" (Cao et al.). This means that even before the ink is bottled, the factory has already used massive amounts of energy and created a lot of toxic wastewater. Zampeta et al. even found that this "industrial ink wastewater" is incredibly hard to clean because the raw colorants are designed to stay stable and not break down easily (Zampeta et al.). Another problem with cartridges is the type of material used to compose the inks and the contamination they cause. In fact, in a research done by Guo et al, they found out that the residues of the cartridges “contain binder polymers and additives that can degrade over time and when exposed to heat and humidity, and that can affect the stability of the plastic material such as LDPE”(Guo et al.). So, in order to create a stable ink, it is necessary to remove materials from the recycled plastic in order to give the desired properties to the ink, and thus the recycled plastic is often of inferior quality, such as LDPE. Therefore, an ink tank cannot be considered an eco-friendly alternative to the couple of cartridges of a simple pen. The composition of inks is very complex and harmful, and it is not possible to counterbalance the small amount of plastic used to save the cartridges.

Upon closer examination, it appears that replacing small plastic cartridges with larger plastic containers, known as “eco-tanks”, does not address the environmental issues. A substantial portion of the environmental impact associated with the Raw Material Extraction stage is “front-loaded”. As noted in the Olsen patent, the “internal fiber structure” of the 3D printed object is not simply a sponge, but a “complex three-dimensional porous member” made from a polypropylene and other type of plastics. These are derived from fossil based polymers. The primary source of these plastics are crude oil and a huge amount of energy and fossil based resources are required to manufacture even the simplest parts of the 3D printer such as the frame and the built-in reservoirs. As noted above, these reservoirs need to be made of high-density, virgin polymers to prevent leakage, and to be resistant to the chemical ink or fluids that they are storing. Even though it is important to reduce plastic waste at the latter stages of a product’s life cycle, the oil budget for the heavy and dense materials has already been spent. And, as we shall see, the impact of the ink itself on the environment is by far the largest. AISPA describes the ink as a “mixture of dye, pigment and solvent”. The production of the colourants in the ink is an “activity with high risk of exposure to harmful chemicals” to the environment (Othman 41), and the wastewater from the production of the colourants is difficult to treat due to their “high stability” (Zampeta et al.). The ink residues can also easily degrade the plastic (Guo et al.). In summary, the current systems for supplying ink result in high life cycle costs due to high resource consumption in relation to fibre production, plastic materials production and the activities related to the synthesis of the ink.

Bibliography

Geyer, Roland, et al. “Production, Use, and Fate of All Plastics Ever Made | Science Advances.” Https://Www.Science.Org/Doi/10.1126/Sciadv.1700782, www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1700782. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026. 

Sin, Lee Tin, and Bee Soo Tueen. Plastics and Sustainability: Practical Approaches. Elsevier, 2023. ScienceDirect, https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/monograph/9780128244890/plastics-and-sustainability. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.

Olaleye, Sunday Adewale, et al. “Impacts of Oil and Gas Exploration.” Arctic Marine Ecotoxicology, edited by Patrick Omoregie Isibor, Springer Nature Switzerland AG, 2024, pp. 195–209. **doi:**10.1007/978-3-031-73584-4_9. Accessed 29 Jan. 2026. 

Guo, Jinyang, et al. “Overlooked Impact of Moisture on the Stability of Printing Ink and Its Impact on Recycled Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) Quality.” Polymers, vol. 16, no. 23, 2024, article 3234, https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16233234. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.

“Polypropylene.” ScienceDirect Topics, Elsevier, https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/materials-science/polypropylene. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.

AISPA. “Where Does Ink Come From? | History, Production & Modern Uses of Ink.” AISPA, 16 Oct. 2024,
aispa.us/blog/where-does-ink-come-from-production-and-history/.Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.

Cao, Tianle, et al. “Inkjet Printing Quality Improvement Research Progress: A Review.” Heliyon, vol. 10, 2024, e30163. Elsevier,Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.

Othman, Norazli, et al. “Risk Assessment and Control Measures for the Printing Ink Production Process.” International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), vol. 8, no. 10, Oct. 2017, pp. 41–55. IAEME,
iaeme.com/MasterAdmin/Journal_uploads/IJCIET/VOLUME_8_ISSUE_10/IJCIET_08_10_006.pdf. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.

“Global Supply Chain Challenges Continue for the Ink Industry.” Flint Group, 17 Aug. 2021,
https://www.flintgrp.com/fr/news-fr/news/global-supply-chain-challenges-continue-for-the-ink-industry/. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.

Ribeiro, Ana P. C., et al. “Introduction to Polymerization and Depolymerization.” Depolymerization: Concept, Progress, and Challenges. Volume 1: Core Concepts and Fundamentals, edited by Ram K. Gupta, ACS Symposium Series, vol. 1498, American Chemical Society, 2025, pp. 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1021/bk-2025-1498.ch001. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.

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“5 Industry Secrets About Ink Tank Printers and Refillable Ink.” 1ink.com, 25 Aug. 2020,
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Olsen, David, et al. “Ink Reservoir for an Inkjet Printer.” United States Patent Application Publication, no. US 2001/0009432 A1, 26 July 2001. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.

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Zampeta, Charikleia, et al. “Pilot-Scale Hybrid System Combining Hydrodynamic Cavitation and Sedimentation for the Decolorization of Industrial Inks and Printing Ink Wastewater.” Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 302, pt. B, 15 Jan. 2022, article 114108. Elsevier,
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Yikai Zhou (Monday)

Professor Christina Cogdel

DES 040A, Sec1

Mar 10, 2026

Energy Use of the HP Smart Printer renewable Ink Tank System

The HP Smart Tank printer uses a refillable ink tank system, which is often called the renewable inbox. In other words, this is not an ordinary, classic one time only ink box. Now different from events you all have to use daily, smart Tank system stores in a large reusable ink bottle, which the users can refill ink within. This design can lower the amount of weights most printers have while still increasing print efficiency, and lower users' long-term cost on printing. However, to correctly identify if a technology is sustainable or not, we cannot only look at what the product brings on the surface. Environmental researchers like to use the lifecycle assessments or LCA to identify a product’s environmental effect in its lifecycle. The LCA includes raw material extraction manufacturing, transportation, consumer use, and final disposal. Within this analysis the most important element is the embedded energy, it means the production, transportation usage, and disposal of the product’s total energy. Even though many disposable (or modern) consumer technology nowadays seems really efficient in everyday life, but before the product really reaches the consumer, it might already waste a lot of resources and energy. Through the analysis of renewable inbox systems across the stages of its lifecycle, we can be able to figure out the hidden energy demands of this technology. Even though the HP smart tank renewable ink box reduced the need for a disposal ink box, throughout its lifecycle, the raw material, extraction, manufacturing, transportation, and end of life processing still embedded a lot of energy.

The first stage of the renewable ink systems lifecycle is the extraction of raw material of its production. The ink tank and the refill bottles are mainly made out of plastics, which are usually out of petroleum. Now, petroleum’s extracting process require a lot of energy, including drilling operations, transportation pipelines, and refining processes that makes oil into actual usable plastic polymers. All those industrial activities are usually highly dependent on fossil fuel and large electronic systems, which means that even before you try to “save” energy by using the ink tank system, the energy consumption has already begun. According to a life cycle study for the inkjet printer, the stages of raw material can be a large percentage of the environmental effect because making plastic components and electricity components (Grzesik and Tomaszewski) need a lot of energy. And even without plastic, the printer also have elements like copper, aluminum and small electronic components that help control the ink delivery and printing functions. To acquire those materials, you need to use heavy machinery powered by diesel fuel, and electricity. And after that, these materials still need to be transported to a factory where they can be refined into industrial materials. The metal refining, plastic polymer production, and the material purification, all of them will use up a lot of industrial electricity. These processes are usually highly dependent on the regional electrical grids, which are also powered from natural gases, and other fossil fuel. Therefore, the renewable ink systems' majority hidden energy cost actually happened before you actually got them. After you get every raw material ready to go, they will be transported to factories where they can be made into renewable ink boxes.

Manufacturing the renewable eight box system also requires a very large amount of industrial energy, which makes the wrong material into usable printers’ parts. factories uses their specialized machine to create plastic tanks that shape structural components, and assemble the ink delivery system used by the printer. The machine that used to create ink box storage and the ink bottle needs a high temperature and pressure for it to work, which will use up a lot of electric power. Even without the creation of renewable tank systems’ physical outer shape, the internal system for the printer also needs to be assembled. They include the electronic sensors and small mechanical components that regulate ink flow. These processes involve a lot of automated production lines that use up many machines and robots that all uses electricity. While manufacturing another important part is the ink itself, a printer Inc. need to go through chemical processing that mixes, pigments solvent and stabilizing compounds. All of these mixing systems and filtration equipment and packaging machines are all powered by, once again, electricity. Which increased the hidden total embedded energy for the inkbox system. According to the research of printing technologies, most energy required stages are usually the manufacturing stage of the lifecycle, this is due to the fact that multiple materials needs multiple different production processes. Furthermore, the packaging materials used to ship all of the materials, bottles, and printers are also produced during the stage, which requires additional energy for making the paper, plastic, and cardboard. Finally, after all the manufacturing, the printer and the ink supplies need to be transported to distribution centers and retailers globally.

Now we need to know that the transportation and distribution for the renewable inbox system adds another important layer for the embedded energy. Many electronic products including the printers are created in the global production center, and then shipped to all the customers.  The cargo ships that used to transport a large number of products need to go across the world that uses a lot of diesel fuel. After the product reaches the ports, they usually need to be later transported by trucks or trains to be transported to warehouses and retail places. Every single stage of the transportation process needs to use up fuel and energy, which adds more carbon emissions, and environmental impacts. In addition to the transportation fuel, in order to protect the printer and ink bottle during transportation, they still need to use protection materials. These materials also require energy and other materials to be created. Even though the smart tank system lowered the classic printers' need for frequent cartridge replacement, all of these initial transportation for the printers/ink bottles are still the most important part of the lifecycle that affects the energy use. Still, the renewable ink box system does have some advantages over the classic ones in this stage, because the user doesn’t need to re-buy new ink boxes which long-term could decrease the cost/energy of transportation. However, despite this advantage, the global distribution network still shows an important contribution to the embedded energy for the new renewable inbox system. And after this stage, the next stage is the energy for everyday uses and maintenance.

Now we’re at the use and maintenance phase/stages of the life cycle, the renewable inkbox system needs electricity to operate. Printers use electricity to move their mechanical parts and control the printing process. The thing is that even when you are not using the printer and it seems that the printer is off-line, the standby mode the maintenance wireless connectivity for network network printing is still on. Over time all of these small energy resources will actually add up throughout the printer's lifetime. Maintenance cycles, such as the auto cleaning for print heads, can also consume electricity and small amounts of inks in order to keep the printer at its high-quality. Even though all of the energy I listed above in this paragraph are rather small compared to the earlier energy requirements, the total energy consumption over the years of printing, can make a significant amount for the lifecycle energy footprint of the device. However, once again, this is where this renewable ink tank system is better than the classic ones. Because the ink tanks are refillable, that means that the user and customers don't need to constantly change their plastic ink boxes. According to studies of inkjet cartridge lifecycle, it shows that the inkjet box’s, production, packaging, and disposal, contribute substantial environment, impact, and energy requirements (Pollock and Coulon). Which means that by reducing the need to frequently change the ink boxes, the smart tank system can lower the long-term energy demand connected to the ink supply system.

Now the last stage of this lifecycle is the waste management and recycling for the inkbox / HP printer. Printers are usually classified as electronic waste, which means that it requires a specialized process to recover the remaining useful materials and prevent environmental pollution. The recycling facilities usually have to first collect all the thrown away printers, move them to the processing center, then dismantle them into all the separate materials, such as plastic, metals, and electronic components. All of these processes need to use electricity and fuel to make the factory machine going. For example, a shredding machine and material separate system are usually used to breakdown, electronic productions, and all sorts of recyclable materials. Even though those processes need energy, they can also reduce the need to extract new raw material from the environment, so that is good. Now the thing is that if the printers are not recycled properly, they might just be sent to the landfills where plastic and electronic waste can create long-term environmental pollution. Products like this one attempt to recover valuable materials and reduce the waste, but should be really fair, their success depends heavily on the consumer's participation.  

In summary, comparing the HP Smart Tank renewable ink tank system to a classic  disposable cartridge system, a renewable ink box does have its advantages. It is mainly the process of being able to reuse ink storage. By doing so they reduced the energy cost by having a multiple one time only inkbox’s constant creating, packaging, and transporting. This design can lower the long-term energy consumption with the ink supply system, and some plastic waste. However, when you look at the lifecycle of the HP smart printer in full picture, you will see that it is not free from all the embedded energy. Even though the renewable inkbox system is a more energy-efficient one than the traditional cartridge printing, it should not be viewed as a completely sustainable solution.

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