MORE ECONOMICAL PRINTINGat improved sustainability

Sustainable printing, where the consumption of printing ink and solvents can be reduced while maintaining or even improving quality, is readily achievable:

n-propanol, n-propyl acetate mixtures or pure n-propyl acetate (known as ‘Propyls’) can replace conventional ethanol, ethyl acetate mixtures or pure ethyl acetate (known as ‘Ethyls’) in rotogravure or flexography printing processes without any modification of the existing press processes. While offering at least the same print quality, and frequently even better, in both types of printing process, Propyls are on average 30% more economical in terms of solvent consumption while reducing ink usage by an average of 20%. Retardants such as Ethoxy propanol are not required for Propyls formulations. This offers considerable advantages when printing food product packaging. Improved process stability significantly reduces scrap percentages.

SUSTAINABLE PRINTING WITH OXEA

Less base ink

Higher print quality

More stable process Less VOC

Less scrap

No/less retardant

Drop-in replacement

without modifications

Less foam formation

Higher printing speed

Less solvent

Less retained solvent

Less plugging

Medium evaporation rate solvents such as n-propanol or n-propyl acetate offer greater benefits in flexo and gravure printing

Conventional solvents evaporate quickly and require retardants to reduce their evaporation rate, whereas Propyls show a medium evaporation rate which leads to significant savings of solvents during the printing process. Accordingly, the use of retardants such as Ethoxy propanol can be reduced or avoided completely.

The slightly longer period required for drying in a propyl solvent system gives the pigments in the printing ink more time to distribute uniformly at the moment they are applied to the polymer film. This results in a higher color density for the same quantity of pigment. Accordingly, the same printing quality can be achieved with less pigment, which in turn leads to a lower consumption of concentrated ink.

Additional savings can be achieved as less base ink is required to reach the targeted viscosity. Several industrial trials conducted by OXEA have examined the substitution of Ethyls for Propyls in flexography and gravure printing at packaging print shops. The trials were performed with industry size print jobs. In all of the trials, considerable savings in printing ink and solvents were achieved, simply by substituting Ethyls with Propyls. Those findings have been confirmed by a recent research paper compiled by the University of Media Studies in Stuttgart.

Comparison of the drying behavior of printing ink on film

Evaporation rates in comparison

Ethyls Propyls

Liquid ink

Dry ink

Solvent Film Pigments

Ethyls 5 sec

Propyls 10 sec

Braz

ilBr

azil

Germ

any

(HdM

)Be

laru

sIn

dia

Mex

ico

Spai

nGe

rman

y (H

dM)

Test parameter

Tech

nolo

gyFl

exo

Flex

oFl

exo

Flex

oGr

avur

eGr

avur

eGr

avur

eGr

avur

e

Pres

sFW

150

8(C

omex

i)FX

8 (C

erut

ti Sp

A)CI

Fle

xpre

ss 6

S/8

(F&K

)O

nyx

X5Ro

tom

ec (B

obst

)n/

aR

970/

2-8

(Cer

utti)

Roto

mec

MW

60

(Bob

st)

Solv

ent E

thyl

s(E

tAc

: EtO

H)20

: 70

(+

10%

Met

hoxy

)20

: 70

(+

10%

Met

hoxy

)5

: 85

(+10

% E

thox

y)7

: 81

(12%

Eth

oxy)

50 :

10

(+40

% E

tAc)

44 :

44

(+12

% E

thox

y)10

0 %

EtA

c70

: 30

Solv

ent P

ropy

ls

(nPr

Ac :

nPrO

H)20

: 50

(+

30 %

EtO

H)20

: 80

5

: 95

10 :

9090

: 10

50 :

5010

0 %

nPr

Ac80

: 20

Colo

rs8

85

66

53

4

Job

size

/ pr

intin

g sp

eed

75 k

m /

250

m/m

in2.

200

km /

180

m/m

in17

km

/ 22

0 m

/min

10,7

km

/ 18

0 m

/min

1 M

onat

/ 40

0 m

/min

14 k

m /

220

m/m

in65

,4 k

m /

315

m/m

in10

km

/ 18

0 m

/min

Sav-ings

Solv

ent

-18

%-2

7 %

-28

%-2

1 %

-10

%-4

8 %

-2 %

-55

%

Colo

r bas

e in

k-2

5 %

n.a.

-12

%+

4 %

-12

%-2

4 %

-53

%-1

8 %

Quality

Reta

ined

sol

vent

--5

7 %

-11

%-

--

-43

%-

Qua

lity

bette

rbe

tter

equa

leq

ual

bette

req

ual

bette

req

ual

Process performance

Foam

ing

-m

uch

less

-22

%-

--

--

VOC

/ Sm

ell

--5

0 %

--

stro

ng

impr

ovem

ent

--

-

Prin

ting

spee

d+

25 %

+22

%-

--

-+

11 %

-

Scra

p-

-83

%-

--

--

-

HdM

= H

dM U

nive

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of M

edia

Stu

dies

, m/m

in =

met

ers

per m

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s =

eth

yl a

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r eth

anol

or b

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n-p

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or n

-pro

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l or b

lend

s,Et

hoxy

= E

thox

y pr

opan

ol re

tard

ant (

PE, 1

-eth

oxy-

2-pr

opan

ol),

Met

hoxy

= M

etho

xy p

ropa

nol r

etar

dant

(PM

, 1-m

etho

xy-2

-pro

pano

l)

Tria

l res

ults

at

a g

lanc

e

Edito

r

OXEA

Gm

bH

Rhei

npro

men

ade

4a

4078

9 M

onhe

im a

m R

hein

Germ

any

Tel +

49 2

173

9993

-0

info

@ox

ea-c

hem

ical

s.co

m

Trad

e Re

gist

er

Amts

geric

ht D

üsse

ldor

f HRB

799

58

Cont

acts

Seba

stia

n An

ton

seba

stia

n.an

ton@

oxea

-che

mic

als.

com

Tel +

49 2

173

9993

2229

Dr. J

ens

Klab

unde

jens

.kla

bund

e@ox

ea-c

hem

ical

s.co

m

Tel +

49 2

173

9993

3078

Imp

rint

/Leg

al N

ote

s