Printing companies are very clear about the possible adverse effects of using gasoline
and kerosene. However, due to factors such as wide sources of gasoline,
kerosene, fast drying speeds, and relatively low prices, printing companies cannot refuse. These advantages are particularly prominent when compared to ink
cleaners available on the market: Ink cleaners have specific conditions for
specific printers, blankets, rubber rollers, etc.; special ink cleaners are expensive;
supply is not guaranteed to be completely timely.
The use of gasoline, kerosene cleaning ink
has the following drawbacks.
(1) The effect is not good
Although use gasoline and kerosene for the
conventional cleaning of rubber rollers and blankets is very convenient and the
results are satisfactory, however, gasoline and kerosene cannot do anything
about the water-soluble components such as paper hair, paper powder, and gum
arabic attached to the rubber roller. A variety of impurities layered on the
surface of the roller, it will seal the original capillary pores on the surface
to form a smooth crystalline layer, so that the roller size changes, the
printing pressure was severely affected, and the ink transfer performance of
the ink roller was reduced. As a result, printing failures such as “dark bars�
and “flat screen hairs� occurred during printing. At the same time, a large
amount of aromatic compounds contained in gasoline and kerosene can also cause
the rubber to swell, affecting printing pressure and printing quality.
(2) security risks
Gasoline and kerosene are extremely
flammable liquids, and the flash point (ie, the temperature at which the steam
encounters an open flame) is only twenty degrees. If the ventilation facilities
in the printing plant are not good, it is prone to dangerous situations such as
a fire accident; As a result, many printing companies have exploded when
workers use gasoline cleaning presses.
(3) Unfavorable to the environment
Gasoline and kerosene contain a large
amount of VOCs, causing serious environmental pollution and failing to meet
environmental safety standards and causing greater harm to employees' health.
At the same time, most printing companies will use ink and kerosene to clean
the ink directly. All of them fell into the sewers. Needless to say, the
pollution of soil and water quality, and the gasoline floating on the water at
the same time, there is also the danger of explosion in the season when the
outdoor temperature is relatively high.
(4) Market elimination
In order to better promote the development
of the printing industry, various countries in the world have started to
formulate various regulations and standards for ink cleaning agents since 1995.
This mainly includes: Ink cleaning agents with a flash point of less than 21°C
cannot be used for the cleaning of printing blankets and blankets (eg
gasoline); Do not supply and use solvents containing halogenated alkane
terpenes (turpentine), n-hexane, imines, or acid amines; the content of
aromatic compounds in solvents should be less than 0.1%; the content of toluene
and xylene in solvents should be less than 10 %.
At the same time, many printer
manufacturers, especially high-end printing equipment manufacturers, will
rigorously test and regulate the use of chemicals on their printing equipment.
Heidelberg, for example, has been rigorously tested to provide three types of
car wash water that can be used on Heidelberg presses: Bottcherin 60, Superdot,
and Varn.
In order to undertake international
business, some printing companies must pass the ISO9001 quality management
system certification and ISO14001 environmental management system certification
in accordance with the requirements, and naturally prohibit the use of gasoline
and kerosene as ink cleaning agents.
If printing companies used gasoline and
kerosene in the past as a common choice to expand profits, then in today's
increasingly fierce competition in the printing industry, only using the cost
of materials and the use of gasoline and kerosene to clean inks is indeed a
stare. This is because it has significantly affected the social benefits and
overall economic benefits of the printing industry.
With the large number of imported high-end
printing equipment being put into use, as well as the security and
environmental protection awareness of the printing company operators,
environmental-friendly ink cleaners (car wash water) will become the main
cleaning solvent for the rubber rollers in the future.
