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It seems that the water crisis in Australia will be with us for some time yet and water conservation is here to stay.
As we are expected to reduce our water consumption in our homes, it seems only natural that all industries also look to reduce their water usage.
Printers have adopted ways of becoming more eco-friendly, with the use of recycled papers, chemicals that are less harmful to the environment and reducing alcohol use, but so far water conservation has not been a major focus. Water use cannot be avoided in printing, and the majority of the used water becomes waste.
Most of the water used in print shops falls into two categories – that used for the actual printing process, and the water used to wash and prepare a press for printing.
Machine manufactures have addressed the washing process by either switching to wash cloth systems, or increasing the efficiencies of traditional brush wash ups, thus reducing the amount of water used. Companies with presses that still use brush wash ups can also purchase cleansing and filtration systems 90% or more of the wash solution to be reused. Such systems like Technotrans Eco-Clean are available from Heidelberg.
Waterless printing can eliminate the need for water in the printing process, but this comes at a cost, and also makes the printing process more difficult.
When printing ‘waterless’, special plates are required and these can cost up to 3 times more than conventional plates! Also by removing water, problems with static increase and machine productivity can drop.
As all printers will know, keeping dampening solutions clean is crucial.
The dampening system easily picks up contaminants such as ink, paper dust and chemicals and quickly becomes unusable. As a result large amounts of water are tipped down the drain when the solution needs to be replaced.
The remedy is simple and now available from Heidelberg. The simple inline fine filtration system filters the dampening solution continuously as the press operates. In field tests at existing sites show the life of the dampening solution can increase by over 600%, meaning the solution only has to be changed once or twice a year.
The fine filtration process happens in two stages. Once the filters become clogged the operator only need to change the filters rather than dump and replenish the solution. Other benefits achieved by fine filtration are improved print quality, less down time for maintenance as well as consistent pH and conductivity levels.
Installing an inline filtering system will not only help the environment by conserving water, but your plant could actually become more productive and in turn improve your bottom line.
Further Information:
Lindsay Barnes – Product Manager, Sheetfed
Tel. +61 3 9263 3381
Email: Lindsay.Barnes@heidelberg.com
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