The Environment

Energy and emissions
Printing under today's environmental regulations has increased many printers' awareness of such concerns as energy consumption and plant emissions.

Conventional ink technologies such as flexography, gravure and offset heatset rely on exposure to heated air movement as a primary way to dry the ink film. This heated air is generally provided from an oven that is fired by natural gas. As a rule, the ovens used are inefficient and can be costly to operate not only in terms of fuel but in general maintenance. The exhaust produced from the ovens is laden with evaporated solvents or diluents from the inks and coatings. Except in the case of water-based technology, the exhaust is made up of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). VOCs are photo-reactive materials that contribute to air pollution (ozone) and other irritants that accumulate in the lower atmosphere.

Use of after burners (exhaust gas incineration) and solvent reclamation can limit emissions. However, these options have a high operating cost and generate additional material that will need disposal.

Energy curable inks, on the other hand, pass thorough a curing unit that uses high energy electrical power. Technical advances are helping to insure that electrical power will remain inexpensive and available long into the future.

Furthermore, the energy curable materials are, for all practical purposes, emission-free. Although ASTM (Method 24) testing shows the materials to contain 7 -10% VOC, because the materials polymerize rather than evaporating, these VOCs are not emitted into the air.

De-inking
Recycling is an important consideration in today's graphic arts industry. Fortunately, newer flotation de-inking technology has proven to be highly effective in recycling magazines, paperboard packaging and aluminum cans that have been printed and coated with UV/EB curable materials. Because the quality of substrate used in UV/EB applications tends to be high, they have added value as a recyclable resource.