Commercial production has started for the eco-friendly UV ink, which uses 30% sustainable materials, which the ink giant said is a novelty for UV curing ink.

John Adkin, sheetfed product director, Sun Chemical Europe, said: "The new materials developed by Sun Chemical for Suncure Advantage provide a UV curing formulation containing about 30% materials from sustainable sources.

"As part of our commitment to customers and the environment, we will continue strategic research in this area to increase this level still further."

The new ink is a result of several years of research and is available in a range of process inks, blending colours, Pantone PMS and soon the new Pantone Goe system.

It is said to have environmental advantages over traditional UV curing technology, which was based on other raw materials, most of which are from petrochemicals.

The Suncure Advantage range is one of a number of inks launched by Sun Chemical at Drupa 2008.

It can be printed at maximum press speed on all the latest-generation UV-curing offset presses.