Posts Tagged ‘environmentally aware printing’

Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of Adhesives (continued)

Monday, March 8th, 2010

Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of Adhesives (continued) – 9th March 2010
C) Water-dispersible hot melt polymers

A wealth of literature exists describing supposedly water-dispersible or soluble polymers which can be used as adhesive bases for a range of market applications. Polymers such as functionalised polyesters, acrylic acid homopolymers/ copolymers, vinyl methyl ethers, maleic anhydride/ acids, polyvinyl alcohols and vinyl-pyrolidone copolymers are among those investigated, but such polymers from inherent problems which are usually related to the thermal and oxidative stability of the product during manufacture/ application and/ or the water sensitivity/ humidity resistance of the glue film when applied. Obviously, poor humidity resistance could give rise to a rapidly degradable spine if used in a bookbinding application.

To overcome these problems, patented technology has emerged where hot melt adhesives are based on a unique class of graft copolymers of various vinyl monomers. These products can be considered as dispersible in the mill system under shear; pH and temperature but remain stable to moisture at ambient temperatures.

Rather than forming tacky agglomerates and therefore stickies, the finely divided particles of the vinyl graft copolymer-based hot melt may then become incorporated into the reclaimed paper without any adverse effects.

To be continued…

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

NEW: We now sell Large Poster Printing and Banner printing online (A1 Posters, A0 Posters etc) and Banner Stands

Also – checkout our new online print prices 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;

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 graphic design, short run, long run and large format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire (Cheshire Printers), in the North West of England – delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

See our other websites The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books

See Our Latest Press Release about our Web to Print Solution.

Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of adhesives – part 1

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Environmentally Aware Printing – Types of adhesives – part 1 – 4th March 2010
Adhesive technologies in use within the printing industry can be broadly classified into the following groups for the purposes of this discussion:

  1. Aqueous/ emulsions e.g. PVA, dextrine, starch, latex, PVOH etc.
  2. Animal glue – water soluble
  3. Hot melts
  1. a)    EVA based.
  2. b)    Acrylic/ pressure sensitive’s.
  3. c)    Water-disperible hot melts polymers.
  4. d)    Reactive systems.

1.    Aqueous systems

The need for recyclability centres mostly around polyvinyl acetate (PVA) emulsions, the other categories generally being considered as repulpable.  Currently, PVA is treated using one or several of the techniques already described to inhibit the formation of stickies.

Patented technology is, however, available which allows vinyl acetate homopolymers and copolymer-based emulsion adhesives to become almost totally water-dispersible. This is achieved by the addition of specific water soluble ionic salts, such as magnesium chloride.

To be continued…

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

NEW: We now sell Large Poster Printing and Banner printing online (A1 Posters, A0 Posters etc) and Banner Stands

Also – checkout our new online print prices 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;

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 large format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire (Cheshire Printers), in the North West of England – delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

Also see our other websites The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books

See Our Latest Press Release about our Web to Print Solution

Environmentally Aware Printing – Dealing with the stickies problem – Part 1

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Environmentally Aware Printing

Dealing with the stickies problem – Part 1

Consumers and therefore the industry will not accept lowering of finished product standards and at the same time there is a clearly identified need to increase the waste/ virgin stock usage ratio. This means that dealing with contraries satisfactorily in recycling will become an increasingly important issue. As concentrations increase, control and removal efficiency of contraries must be improved in order to take advantage of the commercial opportunities presented.
The typical repulping mill will contain a vast array of contraries in the system and, certainly in the newer mills, an associated complex system of methods either to remove or minimise the effects of these impurities. It is fair to say that in many mills permanently high background levels of contraries exist, but these are known and controllable. This perhaps highlights the impact of non-adhesive entities such as pigments, fillers, plastic films etc. adhesives, however, in the form of ‘stickies’, still constitute the major problem in most mills.

Traditionally, the term stickies has been applied to permanently tacky pressure sensitive adhesives but has latterly encompassed all adhesives types which are considered reactivatible at elevated temperatures. In some cases the intrinsic tack of the adhesive may be non-existent or acceptably low, but complexed with components of other coatings and/ or chemical paper additives, the adhesives components may be chemically activated. Common constituents of adhesives and therefore stickies are ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), polyvinyl acetate (PVA), acrylic and styrene containing polymers. Deposits will often contain rosin or rosin-based tackifying resins but it is not always clear whether it originates from the adhesives or waste paper fibres themselves.

If the stickie particles remain in the solid form during processing they are comparatively easy to deal with using the sophisticated screening systems of modern mills. However, if the particle is soluble or colloidal in nature, it becomes more difficult to handle.

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

NEW: We now sell Large Poster Printing online (A1 Posters, A0 Posters etc) and Banner Stands

Also – checkout our new online print prices 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;

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.

Also see our other websites The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books

Environmentally Aware Printing – Definition of recyclability of Adhesives

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

Environmentally Aware Printing – Definition of recyclability of Adhesives – 16th February 2010

For an adhesive to be truly recyclable is must either be:
(i)    Re-used completely – this requires the adhesive to be totally separated from fibres, re-formed and used again in a secondary application. Or
(ii)    Fully incorporated into the finished product- this implies that all the adhesives must travel through the mill system to give 100% retention on the fibres in finished paper.

A combination of (i) and (ii) may also be acceptable.

Currently as a result of technological limitations, the term recyclable is applied to adhesives which are dispersed or soluble in alkali or water or indeed, filterable in the pulping process.

In both cases adhesives must be removed from the system and disposed of. With dispersed or soluble adhesives, build-up and removal from the backwater system is the main problem, involving costly water treatment programmes. In the case of adhesives which are screened out during the process, screen rejects, usually attached to fibre, must be disposed of either in landfill sites or by incineration.

Whilst these approaches cannot be considered to produce a totally recyclable adhesive, they are certainly a step forward from the traditional problems with soft, tacky adhesives in mill systems. These approaches, one can say, allow the finished products to be recycled more effectively.

Other variables which must be considered when trying to produce a totally recyclability are mill systems and test methods. The wide range of different mills inevitably employs slightly different systems which can affect the ability to recycle certain materials with regards to handling contraries. Process variables such as pulping shear forces/ speeds, temperature, consistencies, pH, dispersion/ screening capabilities, de-inking processes and cleaner efficiency can have a major impact on the quality of the finished product and recycling efficiency in the mills. The bottom line here is that an adhesive which is acceptable to one mill may cause problems at other mills. This will become evident in subsequent sections.

Due to the complexity and variability of different mill systems, it is difficult to imagine how a standard test in the laboratory can be developed and validated. Many recyclability tests exist utilising both laboratory and small scale pilot plant equipment, but none really truly reflect the adhesives’ ability to be recycled since they cannot accurately simulate the whole mill treatment system. Tappi UM 666 is most widely quoted as an adhesive recycling test nevertheless this is still only a simplistic, laboratory scale test which can only be used as an initial guide or screening process. Currently, the only true test of a product’s recyclability is to run a full scale mill trial.

Development of a suitable standard test method is a project which industry research organisations, recycling mills and adhesive manufacturers must investigate if significant technical and economic advances are anticipated.

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

NEW: We now sell Large Poster Printing online (A1 Posters, A0 Posters etc) and Banner Stands

Also – checkout our new online print prices 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;

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.

Also see our other websites The Printing House, Print Buying Direct, Prospectus printing, Golf Club Centenary Books

Environmentally Aware Printing – Alcohol free benefits

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Environmentally Aware Printing – Alcohol free benefits - 9th February 2010
Running without alcohol is clearly cheaper than running with it providing that press speeds and print quality are maintained. Not only is the cost of the initial charge of alcohol saved, but there is also the replenishment required to replace evaporation to be considered. When a concentration of no greater than 15% alcohol is being used, the elimination of this evaporation replacement cost multiples the savings by a factor of four.

Solutions of 25% isopropanol or above are classified as flammable liquids (having a closed cup flash point of 100 ºF or below) and Dahlgren damping users in the USA frequently used these concentrations in the 70s. Therefore, eliminating alcohol reduced fire hazard and allowed for a reduction in fire insurance premiums.

It was also observed early in the work that a reduction in the level of alcohol was one of the most powerful means of improving ink lay, reducing ink consumption and increasing print gloss.

The driving force behind alcohol elimination in the latter half of the 80s and during the 90s became an environmental concern. The reduction of ozone in the lower atmosphere was mandated in the USA in the clean Air Act. Similar concerns are behind the Environmental Protection Act in the UK. The reduction in ozone is assisted by emitting less volatile organic compounds and, by eliminating alcohol from their damping solutions, litho printers greatly reduces their VOC burden in a regulatory sense.

Printer’s Services Inc has been a major player in the development of the alcohol substitutes. A collaborative effort between GATF, Union Carbide and Printer’s Services in the 70s and 80s gave rise to Techfount, an alcohol substitute which has since been refined and incorporated into the Prisco line of alcohol substitution products.

This range, which includes one-step fountain concentrates, meets the needs of a diverse market from small duplicators to large publication web offset printers. The development process is an unending one- as trends in ink formulation, government legislation and printing technologies change, new products are developed.

Alcohol substitutes come as a separate product to be used with the fountain solution concentrate or may be incorporated into the fountain solution concentrate itself. Whether you choose the ‘two-step’ or ‘one-step’ approach will depend on your need for greater control or convenience.

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

NEW: We now sell Large Poster Printing online (A1 Posters, A0 Posters etc) and Banner Stands

Also – checkout our new online print prices

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;

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.

Also see our other websites

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

Environmentally Aware Printing – Alcohol in fount solvents

Monday, February 8th, 2010

Environmentally Aware Printing – Alcohol in fount solvents – 8th Feb 2010
The other area of concern is the presence of isopropyl alcohol in the litho fount solution and its evaporation into the pressroom during use. As with so many other ‘environmental issues’, the origins of the search for replacements for isopropyl alcohol in the fount solution had nothing to do with health and safety or protecting the environment. Like vegetable oil-based inks, it started with the oil crisis in the early 1970s.

The need to try and eliminate isopropyl alcohol began in 1974 when the first Arab oil embargo placed a server restriction on supplies. The resulting panic triggered a tremendous research effort on the part of suppliers as well as academic organisations like the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF).

Many approaches to replacement were based upon surfactants that would improve the wetting of the plate. Others utilised higher molecular weight alcohols and alkyl glycols which could be used at very low concentrations and, due to their low vapour pressure, did not evaporate so much into the atmosphere and did not need regular replenishment.

As is usually the case, the crisis stimulated a lot of research into the basics of the lithographic process, especially into the interaction between the ink, press and fountain solution, not only did the industry gain more understanding into the mechanism of alcohol’s beneficial properties but some of the negative contributions to damping were seen more clearly.

With easing of the restrictions on alcohol supply, the vast majority printers returned to their normal alcohol consumption. However, the supply industry, seeing new opportunities to utilise these technologies to establish a new niche market, continued to develop the fountain solutions that would eliminate or at least reduce alcohol requirements in continuous damping systems. But the marketing thrust was now on economics, safety and print quality.

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

NEW: We now sell Large Poster Printing online (A1 Posters, A0 Posters etc) and Banner Stands

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;

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.

Also see our other websites

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

Environmentally Aware Printing – Citrus-based washes

Friday, February 5th, 2010

Environmentally Aware Printing – Citrus-based washes – 5th February 2010
The most widely-favoured option at the moment is to use citrus-based by products to produce washes that are effective in their cleaning action, are miscible with water, have low volatility and, incidentally, smell nice. Such products are available from many sources and are typified by Keane Graphic Products’ Bio-Graphic range.

These water-miscible blanket and roller washes are commonly totally free of organic solvents yet are fully as effective as the solvent-based counterparts, as the growing number of regular users are finding. They are formulated from natural products that are fully biodegradable.

The action of these washes is different from solvent-based products but no less effective. It is particularly useful for dealing with lint and gum glaze. It dissolves ink to a very high degree and yet is safe to use on blankets and plates. Regular use will prevent build up of a glaze and remove the need for cleaning with stronger, more damaging solvents.

Vegetable- oil based
A more recent approach that is, as yet, less widely available is to use vegetable-oil based cleaners. These are effective in cleaning off inks, as long as they have not been allowed to dry hard, yet do not have such an aggressive effect on the skin and are not volatile. This non-volatility does mean that greater care needs to be taken to dry off the rollers or blanket after cleaning.

An example of this type of product for those printers who want to eliminate VOCs but are uncomfortable with water-based products, are the range of Prisco Enviroklene blanket and roller washes from Printers Service of Newark, New Jersey and distributed in the UK by Keane Graphic Products. They surpass the most stringent limits on VOCs imposed by any state of the USA, let alone the UK, without having to rely on toxic chlorinated hydrocarbons or emulsification with water. Enviroklene does not swell blankets or rollers, is significantly less toxic than conventional solvent washes and is suitable for any size of web or sheet fed press.
Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd,
and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

NEW: We now sell Large Poster Printing online (A1 Posters, A0 Posters etc) and Banner Stands

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;

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.

Also see our other websites

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

Environmentally Aware Printing – Chemicals in the pressroom

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

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
Website.

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

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.

Also see our other websites

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

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

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

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;

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.

Also see our other websites

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

Environmentally Aware Printing – Ultraviolet (UV) inks

Friday, January 29th, 2010

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;

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.

Also see our other websites

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


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