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FUGITIVE EMISSION REDUCTIONS DUE TO THE USE OF ENCLOSED DOCTOR BLADE SYSTEMS IN THE FLEXOGRAPHIC AND ROTOGRAVURE PRINTING INDUSTRIES
Citation:
Bahner, M., D. Cornstubble, K. Leese, AND G. Deatherage. FUGITIVE EMISSION REDUCTIONS DUE TO THE USE OF ENCLOSED DOCTOR BLADE SYSTEMS IN THE FLEXOGRAPHIC AND ROTOGRAVURE PRINTING INDUSTRIES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/R-98/050 (NTIS PB98-137391), 1998.
Impact/Purpose:
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Description:
The report gives results of a quantification of the level of fugitive emission reductions resulting from the use of enclosed doctor blade (EDB) systems in place of traditional ink feed systems at flexographic and rotogravure printing operations. An EDB system is an innovative ink feed system that contains an enclosed ink chamber. Such a system has the potential of limiting fugitive emissions from each printing station on a printing press. Traditional printing ink feed systems empoy ink pans; solvents in the exposed pools of ink in these pans create fugitive volatile organic companound (VOC) emissions. EDB systems eliminate these exposed pools of ink and can therefore reduce VOC emissions. The project involved testing for fugitive emissions at flexographic and rotogravure printing stations, to quantify the potential emission reductions achieved by EDB ink feed systems. Prior to the testing, the magnitude of the emission reduction acheived by EDB systems had not been quantified. Testing was conducted on single-color stations on flexographic and rotogravure presses. Emission reduction achieved by EDB systems were measured, and printing station operators evaluated the quality of the printing with traditional and EDB systems. Additionally, evaporation rates from ink pools were measured in a laboratory test.