The Utilization of Bottom Ash as an Alternative Black Ink

A Science Investigatory Project (S.I.P)

Presented to the Faculty of
International School for Better Beginnings
Lucena City

Proponents
Gabrielle Adriana Rivera
Thara Jill Wagan
Madeline Eleanor Uy
Brent Matthew Lagaya
Henry Lorenz Racoma

Azaneth Avila
Research Adviser

ABSTRACT
It is nearly impossible today to imagine how world would have been today
without the invention of ink and the technology we are currently using. The modern
technology that we are using today has substantially changed the way we communicate.
We can send instant messages, we can make calls and send email from anywhere
whenever we want. Things weren't that simple if we think about the past days of history,
when the only way of communicating was either the face to face conversation or writing
letters in ink.

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Writing has played one of the most important role in the creation of the modern
world. Humans are dependent in the writings from the past, and ink has made the
cognition of those events possible. Although the importance of ink usually goes
unnoticed, it has left a mark on our every day use. It has developed a lot over the
centuries and made communication possible.
As early as the 23rd century BC, the use of ink has been traced already and it
continues to be accustomed up to now. Ink is very important to almost everyone since it
could be used from simple to complex ways. Its production has evolved from different
mediums composed of solvents, pigments, dyes, and other materials.
Bottom Ash refers to a non-combustible residue of combustion in a furnace or
incinerator. Nowadays, bottom ash can be extracted, cooled and conveyed. It may be
used as different raw alternative material. The effectivity of ink is usually measured in
two aspects, its color intensity, adhesion., and life span of colors Color intensity refers to
the brightness or dullness of a color. Adhesion is the tendency of dissimilar particles or
surfaces to cling to ane another. Life span of color refers to the length of time it will take
before a color fades.
Printers are external hardware device responsible for taking computer data and
generating a hard copy of that data. It is one of the most used peripherals on computers. A
cartridge is a component of an inkjet printer that contains the ink that is deposited onto
paper during printing. Power plants are industrial facility for the generation of electric

power. In the Philippines, coal generated thermal power plants are the most common,
which produces by-products such as fly ash and bottom ash.
Since the price of ink are very high at times, not everyone can afford. This is a big
problem to many citizens since ink is used almost every day. In schools and offices,
people use ink to permanently record data.
Given that ink empowers the daily lives of humans, the researchers came up with
a possible solution to make a way to produce ink with a different component and help
reduce the price of Inks with this material. With this study, the researchers could also
make use of bottom ashes that are commonly just stocked and placed in a particular place
to be kept. The study will also help in reducing pollution since the material will be
derived from wastes of coal power plants. This will be used as an alternative source of
ink and will be used for printing on inkjet printers.

Statement of the Problem

The study entitled The Utilization of Bottom Ash as an Alternative Black
Ink generally aims to produce black printer ink from bottom ash.
Specifically this study aims to:
1. Compare the effectiveness of Bottom Ash as black ink for printers in each setup
of varied amount of water and bottom ash in terms of its color intensity, adhesion and
lifespan of colors.
a. 25 mL water, 50mL bottom ash
b. 50 mL water, 50 mL bottom ash
c. 50 mL water, 25 mL bottom ash
2. Measure the compatibility of Bottom Ash ink in inkjet printers in terms of:

A.

Printers condition, and

b.

Cartridges,

3. Find out the significant difference between the effectiveness of Bottom Ash as
black printer for printers to the commercial one in terms of:
a.

Color Intensity,

b.

Adhesion, and

c.

Life span of its colors

Significance of the Study

In every school, offices, shops, and even some houses have printers. This machine
is one of the necessities of this generation. It serves as a printing media that uses
commercially available ink that comes in various colors. Printer is made use in various
ways that helps us do our work more efficiently. It is widely used in printing different
outputs of students, records and reports in offices, photos and more.
With the wide and clear function of printer, it significance is high without a doubt.
Creating alternative black printer ink out of coal ash specifically bottom ash will help in
increasing the sources of ink worldwide. Bottom ash is abundant from coal powered
thermal power plants. These ashes are usually left without use.
The producer as well as the consumer will benefit from this study. Using bottom
ash to make ink will significantly minimize the arsenic deposit in ash lagoons where it is
stored. Thus, it could help in reducing pollution that the by-products from coal power
plants produce. Being able to create new alternative ink will also open new livelihood
opportunities. This alternative ink will also open opportunities to everyone since it is

cheaper and easier to acquire. Having new product, new jobs and especially a healthier
environment can surely lead to a better socio-economic status of the country.

Scope and Limitations

This study entitled The Utilization of Bottom Ash as an Alternative Black
Ink generally aims to create an alternative printer ink from a by-product of coal which
is bottom ash and determine its effectivity in terms of color intensity, adhesion, and
lifespan of colors.
In addition, this study will be conducted at Lucena City. This study is limited in
producing black printer ink that is compatible to inkjet printers as an alternative to those
that are commercially available.

Hypothesis
Ho: There is no significant difference between the effectivity of the bottom ash
ink and the commercial one in terms of color intensity, adhesion and its color span.
Ho: There is no significant difference among the effectiveness of Bottom Ash as
black ink for printers in each setup of varied amount of water and bottom ash in terms of
its color intensity, adhesion and lifespan of colors.

Definition of Terms

Adhesion is the action or process of adhering to a surface or object

Bottom Ash is a part of the non-combustible residue of combustion in a furnace or
incinerator .
Cartridge or inkjet cartridge is a component of an inkjet printer that contains the ink that
is deposited onto paper during printing.
Coal is a variety of solid, combustible, sedimentary, organic rocks, formed from
vegetation that has been consolidated between other rock strata and altered by the
combined effects of pressure and heat over millions of years .
Color Intensity refers to the purity of a hue, and is also known as Chroma or Saturation.
Global warming is unequivocal continuing rise in the average temperature of Earths
climate system .
Ink is a colored fluid used for writing, drawing, printing, or duplicating.
Lifespan of color refers to the length of time it will take before a color fades.
Power Plant is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power.
Printer is a device that accepts text and graphic output from a computer and transfers
information to paper.

CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

Power plant
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation ofelectric power. Most
power stations in the world burn fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas to generate
electricity. Others use nuclear power, but there is an increasing use of cleaner renewable
sources such as solar, wind, wave and hydroelectric.Coal plants are the nations top
source of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the primary cause of global warming. A
typical 500 megawatt coal plant burns 1.4 million tons of coal each year. Coal pollutes
when it is mined, transported to the power plant, stored, and burned. Almost all coal
plants operating today use pulverized coal technology, which involves grinding the
coal, burning it to make steam, and running the steam through a turbine to generate
electricity. Of the many environmental and public health risks associated with coal, the
most serious in terms of its universal and potentially irreversible consequences is global
warming. Coal-fired power plants are the largest single source of carbon dioxide
emissions in the United States, emitting as much as all modes of transportation combined
in 2007. (B. Kennedy, 2007)
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-blacksedimentary rock usually occurring
in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. Throughout history, coal
has been used as an energy resource, primarily burned for the It is the largest source of
energy for the generation of electricity worldwide, as well as one of the largest worldwide

anthropogenic sources of carbon dioxidereleases.production of electricity and/or heat,

and is also used for industrial purposes, such as refining metals. (M. Blander, 2011)
Bottom ash
Bottom ash is part of the non-combustible residue of combustion in a furnace or
incinerator. The portion of the ash that escapes up the chimney or stack is, however,
referred to as fly ash. Nowadays bottom ash can be extracted, cooled and conveyed using
dry ash technology from various companies. Dry ash handling has many benefits. When
left dry the ash can be used to make concrete and other useful materials. Bottom ash may
be used as raw alternative material, replacing earth or sand or aggregates, for example in
road construction and in cement kilns . A noticeable other use is as growing medium in
horticulture. A pioneer use of bottom ash was in the production of concrete blocks used to
construct many high-rise flats in London in the 1960s. (K.Crillesen, et al., 2003)
Ink
Early inks can be traced back to the 23rd century BC. Early inks were utilized
from natural plants, animals, and mineral inks based on such materials as graphite that
were ground with water and applied with ink brushes. The best inks for drawing or
painting on paper or silk are produced from the resin of the pine tree. India ink was first
invented in China.The traditional Chinese method of making the ink was to grind a
mixture of hide glue, carbon black, lampblack, and bone black pigment with a pestle and
mortar, then pouring it into a ceramic dish where it could dry. The practice of writing
with ink and a sharp pointed needle was common in early South India.
Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, or quill. Thicker inks, in
paste form, are used extensively in letterpress and lithographic printing.Today, pen ink is
produced following a similar formula now as it was then: a color-rich substance is

suspended with stabilizers in a liquid that a pen can push across paper. Innovations in
chemistry since have added variety to ink's chemical composition.
Ink can be obtained from alternative materials, such as charcoal. The amount of
used engine oil affects the intensity of color and as well as the quality of the end product.
The less used engine oil is applied, the less intense the color will get. Charcoal, a light
black residue consisting of carbon and any remaining ash, can be used to create an
alternative whiteboard marker ink as the latter can be classified as carbon inks. (Castillo,
F., 2013)
Printer
The world's first computer printer was a 19th-century mechanically driven
apparatus invented by Charles Babbage which used a series of metal rods with characters
printed on them and stuck a roll of paper against the rods to print the characters. The
demand for higher speed led to the development of new systems specifically for
computer use. Among the systems widely used through the 1980s were daisy wheel
systems similar to typewriters, line printers that produced similar output but at much
higher speed, and dot matrix systems that could mix text and graphics but produced
relatively low-quality output. By the 2000s high-quality printers of this sort had fallen
under the $100 price point and became commonplace. (J. L. Zable, November 1997)
The four printer qualities of most interest to most users are color, resolution,
speed and memory. The choice of print technology has a great effect on the cost of the
printer and cost of operation, speed, quality and permanence of documents, and noise. A
second aspect of printer technology that is often forgotten is resistance to alteration is
liquid ink. It is much important to consider the quality of an ink since this will mark the
documents into the paper. (V. Verhaeghe, 2007)

The present study will be similar to that of Ink made from Tea (Camellis sinensis)
in the following aspects. Both studies consider creating a alternative ink out of cheap
materials. The difference if that the present study uses an experimental variable of bottom
ash.
The related study included in the study Feasibility of Charcoal as a Black Ink is
also similar to the present study in a sense that both study observes how combustible
materials as an alternative ink. Both studies also seek to reduce excess pollution from city
wastes. This gave the researcher the idea of using another variable that can be made into
an alternative ink.
The study Production of brown ink out of Gmelina arborea fruit helped the present
study in broadening its scope of significance. The past study uses a natural plant to create
a pen ink, as compared to the present study which aims to create an ink that can be used
in printers.
The study entitled Fly ash as an Additive to Concrete used variables that were
taken from power plant exhausts. Both the past and the present studies also aim to reduce
pollution through recycling these ashes.

CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
Materials and Methods
The experiment in the Utilization of Bottom Ash as an Alternative Black Ink
involves three parts of methods. First is the gathering of materials. The researchers
required the following materials in conducting their experimentation: bottom ash, water,
paper cups, measuring cup, and a spoon.
Second is the actual procedure in making the Black Ink out of the prepared
materials. To create the mixture, the researchers first pulverized the bottom ash until it is
refined into pieces. Next, the researchers measured the bottom ash and water using the
measuring cups and put it in a container. The mixture was then mixed until it has a
smooth texture. Once the solution was mixed up, the researchers transferred the product
in an empty cartridge using a medicine dropper. The results were observed and recorded.
To test the differences, the researchers created different mixtures that varies in the
measurements of the main materials.
Third is the testing and the comparison of the different mixtures.

Materials

Bottom Ash

Glass/ Container

Measuring Equipment

Water

Treatments and General Procedure

The researchers prepared two treatments to test the most effective black ink
alternative from bottom ash. The treatments vary in the amount of water and bottom ash
combination. Each treatments has three (3) setups each.
The first treatment composes of 50mL water and 25m. The second treatment has
50 mL water and 25 mL bottom ash. The third treatment is a mixture of 50 mL water and
50 mL bottom ash. For the fourth treatment, the researchers will compare the ink to the
commercially available one.
The end product will be compared in terms of its color intensity, adhesion and
lifespan of color. The treatments will be ranked with one (1) as the highest and four (4) as
the lowest.

CHAPTER IV
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The researchers observed the obtained ink from the bottom ash according to its
color intensity, adhesion, and the lifespan of colors.
Table 1
Treatment
A
B
C
D

Color Intensity
3
4
1
2

Adhesion
3
4
2
1

Lifespan of Colors
2
4
3
1

Treatment A was ranked third in color intensity, third in adhesion and second in
lifespan of colors. Treatment B was ranked fourth in color intensity, fourth in adhesion
and fourth in lifespan of colors Treatment C was first in color intensity, second in
adhesion and third in lifespan of colors.
Treatment D is the controlled variable or the commercially available ink. It was
ranked second in color intensity, adhesion and lifespan of colors.

Procedures