General Acceptability of Atsuwete Extract ( Bixa Orellana ) as an Alternative Red Ink,

together with Cornstarch and Vinegar as Binding Agent

IBALE, ARJAY D.

A Research Capstone Project Submitted to the Faculty of the Senior High School
Department, Aurora National Sciences High School, Buhangin, Baler Aurora

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Senior High School

FEBRUARY 2022
 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF REATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

FOREIGN LITERATURE
Condy(2018), explained that ink is added to the organic ink or the ink from

plants that has different colors depending on the pigments it has to be preserved and used for a

long time purposes. Wood barks and hearts, fruits of gmelina tree can produce brown ink, Bunga

can produce black ink, strawberries as red and many more. Some studies proved that some

flowers can produce pigments that can be used as ink, blue ink can be produced by Hyacinth

flowers, lavender into pink ink, Marigolds to yellow ink, etc.

The earliest black ink that is used for writing was developed in the year 2500 BC that

is made from the carbon in the water together with some natural stabilizer (Ink Chemistry, 2018).

Ink can be also a paste, invented by the people who first discovered ink the Egyptian and

Chinese who uses black ink that can be faded or destroyed with direct or strong sunlight and can

be also fade by rain or other water activities, but without such factors, those writings will last for

years. (By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica).

Toxic ink found on the different mixtures of dye, solvents, and other chemicals, can

de poisonous into our skin and eyes if we accidentally direct hit those parts of our body that may

lead to skin, eye irritation, etc. Makers should invent a new concentration and mixtures of ink

that is far beyond the consequences of being poison even these scenarios are rare. ( Craston, G.,

2018)

Nowadays, ink plays a big role in our life due to its being useful in our everyday life

even if we cannot see it sometimes but the ink is everywhere. Different kinds and types of ink
can be as follow: Pen ink, the most common ink used by teachers and students in schools and

even at home... Printer ink, used for printing photos, documents, etc. Edible ink is the ink used

for decorating a piece of cake, tattoo ink, the ink that is used in making a drawing in the skin that

will last for years., Erasable ink, the ink that can be removed by its eraser. Invisible ink is a

newly discovered ink that can be seen only during the night or by the use of black light. and

some other uncommon ink will be as follow: Phosphorescent ink, Adhesive ink, Fluorescent ink,

etc. (Ledger, K. 2020)

According to Uys D. (2012), The mixtures of Cornstarch and vinegar can affect the

viscosity of the liquid subject it can be water depending on the want of the researcher, mix

calculation of both amounts of concentration between cornstarch and vinegar can result in a

liquid not to flow or to flow rapidly. Cornstarch can be known sometimes as cornflour, a white

powder from the endosperm of the corn used in baking. Production of cornstarch can be found in

the United States, Brazil, China, Philippines, and India... Vinegar on the other side is an acidic

liquid produced by the fermentation and ethanol with acetic bacteria, used for seasoning foods

and sometimes for cleaning purposes. ( Moncel, B. 2021)

LOCAL LITERATURE

Atsuwete is also known for its Spanish name "Achiote" or annatto and in the

Philippines, it's called Atsuwete or a lipstick tree. Atsuwete in the Philippines is used mainly as a

food coloring ingredient ( Tagalog lang ). In 2013, the Philippines become one of the suppliers of

Atsuwete in the world, as they delivered a total of 400 sacks of atsuwete worth 1.3 million pesos

to Vietnam, the United States, and Hawaii. (Diola C., 2013)

 Atsuwete can be found mainly in the Philippines in the area of North Cotabato and

Davao City specifically in the district of Marilog. This atsuwete planting area produces hundreds

of sacks of atsuwete for years of planting giving them excitement and inspiration to plant due to

the explosion of buyers coming from the United States and even in Hawaii as for food colorant

in pancit and kare-kare, for Filipino dishes (Calasagsag, J.2013) The quality of Atsuwete being

exported from the Philippines to Vietnam is more highly in demand as Vietnamese experiences

in compared to Africans Atsuwete as one country who supply food colorant. (Department of

Agriculture, 2013)

Carriage M. A. Explained that some researchers are successful to make a spot of

ink with the use of the main ingredients the atsuwete seeds extract with different methods, some

common improvements that future researchers must look at is the odor of the final product.

Toxicity of other inks being used during the election is one of the small concerns of other being

poisons or get a disease from the ink used as mark being done in voting, as organic ink is now

evolving atsuwete as a good source of pigments can be used in making such ink during elections

(D. R. CO, I. A. DE FIESTA, AND I. ODIVILAS)

FOREIGN STUDIES

"Source of dyes are everywhere" according to Petra Guenthner Johnson, But

researchers must pick the right organic plants, flowers, fruits, roots, etc. based on the ability of

each in producing pigments. Atsuwete extract is considered nontoxic and can be used safely as

ink, and for the possibility of a 100% better extraction., the process that uses KOH alkaline
extraction is the best, but due to the small quantity of the pure extract being extracted this not

applicable for small use only (Raddatz-Mota D. et. al., 2017)

LOCAL STUDIES

According to the study of students from STI entitled " THE GENERAL

ACCEPTABILITY OF DRAGON FRUIT (Hylocereus undatus) EXTRACT AS AN

ALTERNATIVE INK FOR BALLPOINT PENS, it said that to have a fully accepted organic ink

from plants, fruits, flowers, etc. researcher must have different concentrations of mixtures to be

tested by the researchers, teachers, and students to find out the proper concentration for an

organic ink to be accepted (Abanto, et. al. 2018).

Antioquia, conducted also a study regarding the same research design from STI

students, on his study entitled "Effectiveness of Narra (Pterocarpus indicus) extract as an

ingredient for permanent marker ink" it shows that one of the important factors that a researcher

must achieve and tested in making organic ink is the consistency of the product or the produced

ink. Consistency defined from his study is the ability of the ink to stick on the paper because

when there is a low consistency of ink there's a big possibility that even if your ink is good in

color but if we write it on paper it will fade(Antioquia, 2015). Due to the harmful effect of some

inks that contain strong toxicity, Studymoose free essay added a factor that researcher must

avoid or lessen the ingredients of making inks from organic materials for the consumers and

users to use them safely( May 17, 2016)

Based on "Effectiveness of Mango (Mangifera indica) bark extract to produce a

permanent marker ink". Finding the right consistency and concentration as the factors that affect

the acceptability of the ink produced from organic materials, has also been achieved for furtherly
use if we considered the biding agents that we need to use, the binding agent that is right for our

organic ingredient/s (De Jesus, E.)