Thermal oxidation with regenerative heat recovery (RTO) for flexo-printing (packaging)

Posing the tasks

Whether UV hardened colours, water colours or WetFlex, the use of solvents was reduced in the past years thanks to many innovations. On the other hand, there are many areas in the field of flexo-printing in which the use of solvents could not be dispensed with. The challenge is to clean the ensuing emissions to the official limit levels with the lowest possible operating costs.

Solution / Highlights

At a customer specialising in the field of printing on packaging, 5 flexo-printing machines are connected to one RTO system. The process exhaust air solvent concentrations are relatively low. None-the-less, with its high degree of heat recovery, the RTO ensures an economical exhaust air cleaning. At the same time, with its lowest possible clean gas values, regulator-conforming production can be warranted over the long-term.

It is especially important to consider upstream processes with regard to the economic efficiency of the exhaust air system. In this case, parallel to the planning for the exhaust air purification system, optimisation tasks were being carried out on the printing machines. In this manner, the exhaust air to be treated was reduced and the solvent concentrations increased. Exhaust air system investment cost reductions were not the only benefit gained from this effort. Above all, RTO and printing machine operating cost savings were realised, as well.