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Environmentally Aware Printing – Chemicals in the pressroom

admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 05:25:00 +0000

Environmentally Aware Printing – Chemicals in the pressroom - 4th February 2010
Printing is the business of using chemicals to produce a visual result, although this is not often recognised. Inks and many of the other materials used within the pressroom are mixtures of chemicals that have been compounded to do a particular job.

With the majority of litho and letterpress machine rooms, the ink has little reason to be cause for concern but the same cannot always be said of some of the other materials. Foremost among these are the press washes and the fountain additives.

Press washes
The job of a press wash is to remove an ink that has sometimes been allowed to dry, from the rollers, blanket and other parts of the press. The simplest and most convenient materials for this are the organic compounds that have a strong solvent action and evaporate rapidly. Unfortunately, this strong solvent action extends to dissolve natural oil in the skin, which can lead to during and cracking of the skin which is then open to infection. The rapid evaporation rate leads to unacceptably high concentrations in the air that is breathed by the press operators.

On many occasions the operators had become so used to the smell of the solvents in conventional blanket and damper washed that they were hardly aware of the presence of the fumes that were being inhaled. Among the worst of these is MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) which is still more widely than it should be.

The third area for concern is with the damper roller washed that frequently find their way into the public drains and sewer systems. What effect do they have on the sewage systems and rivers once they have pass on that far?

As a result of the growing demand for a safer and more pleasant working environment, a number of suppliers, including Keane Graphic Products, have assembled a portfolio of environmentally- friendly graphic supplies that are as effective as any conventional solvent-based materials. The range of pressroom chemicals was developed to meet the concerns of management, workforce and union alike about the effect of inhaling the solvent fumes from conventional products, particularly when in enclosed spaces.
Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd,
and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

Print Buying Direct are UK market Leaders in Leaflet Printing | Brochure Printing.

For more free articles on Printing and Graphic Design see our Online Printing | Print Buying Direct
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Print Buying Direct is the online division and a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for short run, long run and wide format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire, in the North West of England – delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

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Environmentally Aware Printing – Getting rid of empty ink containers – 3rd February 2010

admin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 01:04:44 +0000

Environmentally Aware Printing – Getting rid of empty ink containers – 3rd February 2010
Empty, dry ink containers are not hazardous waste and, for those not designed for return and re-use, landfill is currently the best available disposal option. However, this is seen as waste of a valuable resource and a strain of limited landfill capacity.

The incineration of plastics is an effective alternative. Their high calorific values (42 KJ/kg for polythene – greater than high grade coal) make them a valuable fuel source.

Opportunities for cleaning and recycling of containers, particularly large drums, are widely available and should be used wherever possible.

Pressure for recycling is increasing but it is essential when considering recycling as an option that the correct infrastructure is in place to cope with demand.

We are actively discussing the implications of all these trends with our suppliers.

Environmentally Aware Printing – Disposal of print
The ink on printed materials is classed as a contaminant, along with labels, adhesives etc. In practice, the amount of dried ink is so small that it constitutes only a minor contaminant.

Recycling
Recycling of paper is now common and the associated de-inking processes well established. Most recycling of plastic is currently of undecorated material so the information on the effect of ink is limited. Preliminary studies have shown that diarylide yellow pigments will degrade is too high hazardous breakdown products if the reprocessing temperature is too high (above 240ºC). Diarylide yellows are used in printing inks and for producing self-coloured plastics. It is therefore recommended that, generally, coloured plastic material should not be heated above 240ºC.

Incineration
It is generally accepted that printing ink films do not contain any materials that would inhibit the suitability of printed matter for incineration. At the very high temperatures involved, inks, with their very low levels of chlorine and sulphur, will not contribute to the production of toxic emissions.

Landfill
We do not believe that the ink film will have any effect on the anaerobic degradability of printed matter in a landfill.

Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd,
and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

Print Buying Direct are UK market Leaders in Leaflet Printing | Brochure Printing.

For more free articles on Printing and Graphic Design see our Online Printing | Print Buying Direct
Website.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

Also see our other websites

The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books

Environmentally Aware Printing – Disposing of inks

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:22:20 +0000

Environmentally Aware Printing – Disposing of inks – 2nd February 2010
No ink products, including water-based, are suitable for sewage disposal without special treatment.

Landfill is often the best practical solution for ink products on the basis of both cost and environmental protection. Scientific studies we commissioned indicate that, in practice, conventional lithographic inks and aqueous products have a natural effect on a landfill. As landfill involves the widespread dispersal of small quantities of ink waste at low concentration, printing inks should not cause any problems.

At the moment, low flash products cannot be land filled; for these, solvent reclamation or incinerations are options. The flash point combustibility threshold will vary with locality but is normally 21-40 ºC. However, there is a move to reduce the disposal of all liquids waste in landfills.

Many of our inks have a calorific value greater than traditional fuels such as coal and wood. When incinerated, they represent a valuable source of energy which can be exploited. Incineration specialist assures us that there would be no problems in burning our waste inks, and that their incineration will not produce toxic emissions such as dioxins or PCBs.

At the moment, there is no harmonised legislation on waste disposal. Therefore, whatever option is chosen, it must comply with the relevant local regulations.

Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd,
and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

Print Buying Direct are UK market Leaders in Leaflet Printing | Brochure Printing.

For more free articles on Printing and Graphic Design see our Online Printing | Print Buying Direct
Website.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

Also see our other websites

The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books

Environmentally Aware Printing – Water-based inks and coatings

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:32:22 +0000

Environmentally Aware Printing – Water-based inks and coatings – 1st February 2010

Most water based products currently contain only 5-8% of organic solvent so their use reduces VOC emissions considerably. Research is currently aimed at reducing this level, with the ultimate removal of all volatile organics.

Water has a high latent heat of vaporisation suggesting that more energy is needed to evaporate water from a coating film, particularly on non-absorbent substrates. To some degree, this can be compensated for by printing a lower film weight using higher solids/stronger inks and a finer anilox or gravure cylinder. Printing speeds may still have to be reduced but there is considerable activity in many areas including the modification of dryer designs and operations to overcome this.

Although relatively large amounts of dirty water are produced during the cleaning of the press, these can be treated to produce waste suitable for disposal into sewage systems. Techniques available are sedimentation, ultra filtration, biological processing and adsorption. Water-based inks and coatings can be incinerated but have a relatively low calorific value, making it an inefficient means of disposal.

Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd,
and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

Print Buying Direct are UK market Leaders in Leaflet Printing | Brochure Printing.

For more free articles on Printing and Graphic Design see our Online Printing | Print Buying Direct
Website.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

Also see our other websites

The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books

Environmentally Aware Printing – Ultraviolet (UV) inks

admin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 04:36:02 +0000

Environmentally Aware Printing – Ultraviolet (UV) inks – 29th January 2010
Our reason why interest is growing in the use of UV inks as alternative technologies to evaporation drying for flexo and gravure printing is that UV curing eliminates the problem of VOCs. Radiation curing is at least as energy efficient as those processes requiring evaporation of large volumes of solvent.

Early difficulties arose when de-inking UV printed material by traditional techniques. As a result of continuing research into new de-inking methods, print is now routinely recycled.

A very small amount of ozone is generated in UV printing, but it can be filtered out and therefore has no environmental impact.

Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd,
and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

Print Buying Direct are UK market Leaders in Leaflet Printing | Brochure Printing.

For more free articles on Printing and Graphic Design see our Online Printing | Print Buying Direct
Website.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

Also see our other websites

The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books

Environmentally Aware Printing – Re-use and recycling of printing inks

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:48:57 +0000

Environmentally Aware Printing – Re-use and recycling of printing inks – 28th January 2010
A number of our customers now re-use excess product and press returns. Many do this with the assistance of a colour computer, which also helps to minimise waste. In certain circumstances, tank dispensing systems can be effective in reducing excess mixed ink.

There are a few specialist companies operating schemes for the recycling of the less complex types of printing inks. However, the extent of these operations is limited for the following:

a) The vast majority of printing inks are complex chemical mixtures and it is not desirable to mix different types.
b) Used in inks is often ‘uncertain composition’ as we have no control over additives, solvents or extraneous matter introduced during used.

Volatile Organic Compounds
A Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) is an organic material which participates in atmospheric photochemical reactions.

In practice, and for the purposes of this study, this means the organic solvents and diluents used in ink manufacture which can be emitted into the atmosphere. By this definition, heatset, flexo, gravure and screen printing inks, where the drying relies on evaporation, are all possible sources of VOCs.

The emissions of VOCs can be reduced by either using a control technique or changing technology.

Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd,
and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

Print Buying Direct are UK market Leaders in Leaflet Printing | Brochure Printing.

For more free articles on Printing and Graphic Design see our Online Printing | Print Buying Direct
Website.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

Also see our other websites

The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books

Environmentally Aware Printing – Bio-degradability of inks

admin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:09:09 +0000

Environmentally Aware Printing – Bio-degradability of inks – 27th January 2010

We are often asked the question, ‘Are your printing inks degradable’?

In order to answer it, we spoke to raw materials suppliers and commissioned a series of Scientifics tests on a cross-section of ink types.

The first thing to consider is the pigment in our inks. We know from discussions with leading pigment manufacturers that pigment is insoluble in water and practically non-biodegradable. As an ink can contain up to 25% pigment, this immediately tells us that no ink can be fully biodegradable.

In our scientific tests, we determined biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) figures to establish the potential for biodegradability in an aquatic environment.

The BOD5 figure is the percentage of material that is broken down by standard micro-organisms in five days. A value greater than 60% (as applied to detergents) is considered to indicate ‘readily’ bio gradable. The figures for our inks are, in most cases, well below this. (The figure for water-based ink may seem curiously low, but remember it contains a large proportion of water- and water is not biodegradable. The figure for 28 days exposure (BOD28%) is very different, with some much higher figures. This, we believe, is the result of ‘acclimatisation’, a process by which the micro-organisms adapt and mutate a strain suitable for activity.

It suggests that our ink systems are ‘inherently’ biodegrable, but we cannot claim that they are fully biodegradable.

The only synthetic resin that is ‘fully’ biodegradable is polyvinyl alcohol. Of the natural resins, shellac and unmodified rosin are possibilities. None of these makes a good film-forming material suitable for printing inks. With solvents, the choice is much wider.

But the only true benefit of biodegradability of a wet ink is in a surface litter or accidental spillage situation, neither of which would be a likely occurrence. As many inks are only suitable for disposal by incineration, biodegradability is not a factor. When inks are suitable for disposal in a landfill, bio-degradability is neither possible nor desirable. We do now believe that bio-degradable inks would make any significant contribution to solving environmental problems.

Effects of printing inks on water -borne species.
There is no evidence to suggest that printing inks affect water-borne species and micro-organisms. We commissioned tests on a cross-section of inks to assess any effects our inks might have – e.g. mutation, mortality – on micro-organisms in an aquatic environment.

Only one of the inks, water-based, was sufficiently soluble in water to give a test result. This figure was greater than 5000mg/litre which place it in the ‘neutral’ category. A water-based ink is unlikely to reach this level, even in the potentially more concentrated environment of a sewage treatment works. It is more likely to be a nuisance because of discolouration. However, no ink products, including water-based, are suitable for sewage disposal without special treatment.

For all the other inks, we can only look again at the individual raw materials we discussed earlier.

Pigments are insoluble and readily removed by sedimentation or absorption. The Ecological and Toxicological Association of Dyestuffs Manufacturing Industry (ETAD) has reported that all the indications are that pigments pose low risks and an overview of their ecological aspects is reassuring.

Information from suppliers shows that ink resins have a low potential to affect aquatic organisms, because of their low solubility and low biological activity.

For solvents, only the aromatic hydrocarbons have been indentified as potentially waster endangering.
Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd,
and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

Print Buying Direct are UK market Leaders in Leaflet Printing | Brochure Printing.

For more free articles on Printing and Graphic Design see our Online Printing | Print Buying Direct
Website.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

Also see our other websites

The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books

Environmentally Aware Printing – Solvents

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 07:37:31 +0000

Environmentally Aware Printing – Solvents – 25th January 2010
There is popular misconception that solvents are highly ecotoxic and ought to be avoided. In the printing ink industry, we are fortunate that we have for a long time used solvents which have low environmental impact. Apart from the aromatic hydrocarbons such as toluene, none of these solvents is likely to bio-accumulate. Aromatics also show toxicity to aquatic species.

A number of our solvents can be classed as readily biodegradable. Water solubility will affect the results. Half-life figures in water (where available) show most are lost by evaporation and degrade within days, so they are not generally persistent. German figures classify the solvents generally as not water endangering or slightly water endangering.

Under the right atmospheric conditions, organic solvents are known contributors to photochemical smog. However, data suggests that these solvents will photo degrade rapidly in the atmosphere to give water and carbon dioxide. They are, not sufficiently persistent to contribute to depletion of ozone in the stratosphere (upper atmosphere).

Although the carbon dioxide generated would act as a greenhouse gas in the troposphere (lower atmosphere), controls on emission of solvent within our industry are such that our contribution is extremely small compared to that from road transport and energy generation.

We have eliminated solvents such as chlorinated hydrocarbons which are known to harm organisms and bio-accumulate.

We are imposing controls on emissions from our own manufacturing plants.

We have worked with our supplier to minimise the percentage of aromatics in the high boiling point materials used in heatset inks and the minerals oils used in the coldest inks. We are developing water-based and radiation curing systems to replace current solvent-based technologies. We supply monosolvent ink systems for certain applications and research is continuing. Solvent recovery using these systems is more efficient as there is no mixture that needs further separation.

Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd,
and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

Print Buying Direct are UK market Leaders in Leaflet Printing | Brochure Printing.

For more free articles on Printing and Graphic Design see our Online Printing | Print Buying Direct
Website.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

Also see our other websites

The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books

Environmentally Aware Printing – Inks

admin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 12:05:20 +0000

Environmentally Aware Printing – Inks – 24th January 2010

Obviously it is environmentally sensible to use raw materials in inks which come from renewable resources. At the moment some 10% of our raw materials come from such sources: vegetable oils, alkyds, rosin and cellulose derivations – and work are continuing to increase this.

For example, significant progress has been made in the development of inks based in rape seed or soya bean oils but there is a limit to the amount of renewable materials we can use in an ink. For example, organic pigments are not made from renewable sources, and it would be difficult to replace the highly specialised resins we use.

Ethanol can be obtained from natural sources such as sugary beet, but other solvents will continue to be derived from the petro-chemical industry.

There is little potential for the ink maker’s suppliers to use recycled raw materials. If there were, we would certainly evaluate the technical merits of any materials, but would need to be sure that they provided positive benefits to the environment and that customer requirements could be maintained. At the moment, only some reclaimed solvent is used for cleaning purposes.

A question often raised is the extent of the toxic effect of ink raw materials on environmental species. A common study for chemicals is carried out in an aquatic environment on species such as fish or daphnia magna, while in Germany, a figure is assigned according to a chemical’s ‘water endangering; potential. (The data available to us based on these studies demonstrates that ink raw materials generally have extremely low ecotoxic effects).

Concern is often expresses about the use in printing inks of ‘heavy metals’ such as cadmium, hexavalent chromium, mercury and lead. The main fear with these is their cumulative toxicity arising from a variety of sources such as leaking into aqueous environments, composting of sewage, and ash disposal after incineration. Coates Lorilleux has eliminated all these ‘heavy metals’ in order 95% of printing ink products. Those materials remaining are progressively being replaced, despite technical difficulties.

There is legislation now in force in the USA and under discussion in Europe which would restrict levels of ‘heavy metals’ in packaging. A limit of 600ppm is being proposed with progressive reduction to 100ppm. Our results indicate that these levels will be achievable using current practices. Levels lower than this may cause serious problems, because of the presence of trace impurities in raw materials.

Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd,
and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

Print Buying Direct are UK market Leaders in Leaflet Printing | Brochure Printing.

For more free articles on Printing and Graphic Design see our Online Printing | Print Buying Direct
Website.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

Also see our other websites

The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books

Environmentally Aware Printing – Recycled Paper – Reproduction

admin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 09:59:49 +0000

Environmentally Aware Printing – Recycled Paper – Reproduction – 22nd January 2010
Ensure that appropriate dot gain allowances are built into halftones, tints and colour separations. Adjust scanner grey balance for colour-critical work on off-white papers, use GCR (grey colour removal) separations and wet proofs where possible. If pre-press proofs must be used, ensure that they are matt finished. Check that the dot gain during proofing is the same as when printing.

Environmentally Aware Printing – Recycled Paper – Printing
Increase ink weights and printing pressures to obtain the best ink lay. This must not be done in isolation from making adjustments to the dot gain allowance at the repro stage, since it will have the effect of increasing dot gain. Use blankets with good release properties to reduce picking, and use as little water as possible. Alcohol damping is essential for the best results. Use low-tack inks with good hold-out. Where solids are the priority, use inks with low pigment strength (or ones which have had tinting medium added) so that a high ink weight can be carried. Where halftones and tints take precedence, inks with slightly higher viscosity and pigment strength than usual will minimise dot gain. Overnight inks can make set-off worse.

By careful adjustments of the printing process and selection of compatible inks it is possible to achieve results that will be acceptable for most purposes. There will still be constraints imposed on what can be produced, notably in respect of print contrast, sharpness, colour gamut, gloss, brightness and consistency, and designers should be made aware of this so that they can adapt their expectations and uses of the materials.

Customers should be informed of the limitations and if possible should be offered a wet proof (perhaps with a proof on a virgin sheet for comparison) to avoid unrealistic expectations. If pre-press proofs are used, more interpretation of the proof is needed than with conventional papers, since they do not simulate the finished result so well.

It should be emphasised that many recycled papers perform just as well as conventional alternatives, with no loss of other print quality or press performance. In cases where a paper fails to meet the properties and tolerances specified, the merchant should be given an opportunity to replaced the stock, but it is also essential to advise the customers on suitable papers for different requirements to avoid the possibility of dissatisfaction.

Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd,
and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

Print Buying Direct are UK market Leaders in Leaflet Printing | Brochure Printing.

For more free articles on Printing and Graphic Design see our Online Printing | Print Buying Direct
Website.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

Also see our other websites

The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books