Ink cleaning agent selection and recycling

Environmental protection is the eternal theme of safeguarding human living environment. The development and application of environmental protection products can effectively avoid the conflict between the high-tech industrialized society and the ecological environment. As part of modern industrial enterprises, printing companies should also shoulder the responsibility of protecting the environment. On the one hand, in the long run or on the whole, it is the fulfillment of obligations to human society. In addition, in the short-term or in part, it is the development of the enterprise itself. need. At the end of 2001, China’s economy was formally added to the global economic integration after China's accession to the WTO. For domestic printing companies, there are boundless business opportunities and strong challenges. One of the challenges that must be faced is environmental protection. .

First of all, in the long run or on the whole, the significance of various domestic printing companies undertaking environmental protection obligations is self-evident, not only to protect their natural environment, to improve their people’s deteriorating living environment, but also to protect and improve the entire planet’s humanity. The natural environment on which we live depends on the fact that mankind will always have a beautiful "green" earth.

Secondly, in the short-term or in part, regardless of whether or not companies participate in international competition, they must speed up the solution to the pollution problems caused by their own production. On the one hand, with the success of China’s accession to the WTO and the bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games, the Chinese government has accelerated the pace of environmental protection and increased environmental protection. New laws and regulations related to environmental protection have been introduced; at the same time, the environmental protection authorities have also added Examined and cracked. On the other hand, pollutants such as waste gas, liquid waste and noise generated by enterprises will directly lead to environmental deterioration in the surrounding areas. Deterioration of the surrounding environment will directly or indirectly increase the related costs of the enterprises and will not be conducive to the long-term development of the enterprises. For those domestic printing companies that have joined or are about to join the international competition, environmental protection is an important issue that must be valued in the development of enterprises. As global economic integration and trade liberalization continue to increase, various tariff and non-tariff barriers are restricted by international free trade treaties and agreements. In this case, developed countries protect their domestic industries and trade protection in the name of environmental protection. In fact, the “green barriers” have been built. The essence of this is that importing countries restrict imports and protect their own trade on the grounds of protecting the ecological environment and human health; the common practice is to establish environmental protection laws and regulations by establishing various environmental protection laws and regulations. Strict environmental and technical standards, the development of cumbersome inspections, approval procedures, etc., impose barriers to the import of products, so environmental standards are a manifestation of the value of environmental resources during a period of economic development. The relevant provisions of the WTO agreement must not prevent any country from taking the necessary measures to protect the health of human beings, living things and protect the environment, which provides a basis for the developed countries to build green barriers. The main manifestations of green barriers are the green tariff system, market access system, green technology standard system, and green environmental sign system. It is a new type of non-tariff barrier. For example: The environmental protection requirements for packaging that are currently allowed in the international market and between countries are:

1Conform to the conditions of international environmental certification.

● The raw material of the product is non-toxic and harmless, and it is a green quality material;

● During the manufacturing process, the production process is pollution-free and clean production is implemented (ie, there must be no pollution upstream or downstream of the production. For example, the pollution of traditional papermaking is serious and plastic products are not easily degraded after being discarded);

● Printing materials in the entire process must be non-toxic and harmless;

● The product quality should be all-round green, and the texture and accessories should be green.

2 Products must have a national guarantee (eg no pests, degradable, recyclable, green signs).

In this way, for our country's printing companies, corporate products and production processes must meet the requirements of international trade before they can join the international competition.

However, even though China's accession to the WTO has been more than a year, the work and efforts made by most of the printing companies in China in the area of ​​environmental protection have been slow and almost zero. Next, we will briefly discuss the environmental issues in the use of ink cleaners by domestic printing companies.

At present, the main body of printing industry in China is offset printing. This printing method cannot be separated from offset printing inks, and thus ink cleaning agents are indispensable. Ink cleaning agents are divided into two major categories: one is steam, kerosene, and the other is a special printing cleaning agent (professional commonly known as "car wash water").

Steam and kerosene are broad-spectrum organic solvents that are suitable for many industries and are relatively inexpensive. That is, the price factor makes most printing companies use car wash water instead of steam and kerosene, but at the same time, they are still using steam and kerosene in large quantities to reduce production costs. So far, in Beijing, where the printing industry is more developed, there is almost no printing factory that does not use steam or kerosene as an ink cleaner more or less. Although the printing companies are very aware of the dangers of gasoline, the first is safety. problem. Because the flash point of gasoline (that is, the temperature at which steam encounters an open flame) is only about two dozen degrees, if the ventilation facilities in the printing plant are not good, it is easy to have a dangerous situation; it turns out to be true that Beijing has more than one printing company in the workforce. An explosion occurred when cleaning the printer with gasoline. Even if the air inside the factory is well distributed, no danger will occur in the workshop. However, the steam and kerosene that have been washed out of the ink will be completely poured into the sewers by the workers. Needless to say, the pollution to the soil and water quality, and the gasoline floating on the water at the same time, In the season when the outdoor temperature is relatively high, there is also the danger of explosion. The second is pollution. As an organic solvent, steam and kerosene are inherently toxic. In the printing shop, when the workers wash the ink roller, blanket or machine, because of the large volatility of gasoline, even if the ventilation in the workshop is good, the workers will inhale a certain amount of oil and gas more or less; at the same time, the workers During the cleaning operation, the hands or other parts of the body will inevitably come into contact with steam and kerosene; the inhaled gasoline oil and gas and the exposed steam and kerosene will cause some damage to the human body, and the short-term contact problem will not be too great, but if Long-term exposure will cause varying degrees of damage to workers' health. These pollutions come from steam and kerosene itself. At the same time, harmful substances such as ink are dissolved in steam and kerosene, which can also cause considerable harm to the human body and the surrounding environment. The relevant contents will be explained in the following paragraphs.

The car wash water is a cleaning agent specially used for cleaning inks. The quality of the car wash water is better than that of steam and kerosene in cleaning effect, safety performance, and the harm to the human body and the environment is small, but the price is relatively high. Although car wash water is safe and less polluting than steam and kerosene, it does not mean that "car wash water" is perfect. First of all, although most of the qualified car wash waters have a flash point above 40 degrees and the highest ones are around 200 degrees, it is still flammable. If the operation process is improper, there is still the possibility of explosion. Secondly, although the car wash water produces less pollution to the human body and the surrounding environment than steam and kerosene, it does not mean that he does not pollute; like vapor and kerosene, ink and other substances dissolved in "car wash water" Harm to the human body and the surrounding environment is absolutely not negligible.

Here, probably talk about the process of environmental protection ink. For the harmful substances contained in the ink, the following improvements have been made in the past 40 years:

1974: Removed lead in ink pigments;

In the late 1970s: the removal of cellosolve (ethyl glycol);

In the early 1980s: Removed toluene from food packaging instructions;

In the late 1980s: the related benzidine yellow pigment was removed;

In the early 1990s: the use of phthalic acid plasticizers was reduced.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, in the world-wide wave of environmental protection, soybean ink and flaxseed ink have become popular among the industry due to the limitation of volatile organic emissions and their environmental adaptability. The latter two have gradually replaced the trend of mineral ink. . In addition, almost all ink manufacturers in Japan have begun using ink solvents to remove aromatic (1% or less) AF solvents. For the ink industry, how to deal with environmental issues such as the recovery of volatile organic compounds (VOC), polycyclic aromatic solvents (PCA), heavy metals, industrial waste, and other resources (such as recycled paper) and combustion (dioxin) It has become an important research topic. However, most printing companies in China are not using the latest environmental inks such as soy inks and flaxseed inks due to restrictions on price and other factors. The inks that are being used are commonly found in the environmental aspects of the recovery of volatile organic compounds (VOC), polycyclic aromatic solvents (PCA), heavy metals, industrial waste, and other resources (such as recycled paper) and combustion (dioxin). Big problem.

From this point of view, at present, China's printing companies in the selection and processing of ink cleaning agents (whether it is steam, kerosene or car wash water) there is a big environmental problem; on the one hand is the safety and pollution of the cleaning agent itself, on the other hand It is a problem of contamination of toxic substances such as ink dissolved in cleaning agents.

Faced with the pollution problems caused by the use of ink cleaning agents, we should learn from the experience of developed countries in foreign countries and work hard to select and handle ink cleaning agents. In Europe, America, Japan, and other developed countries, due to their high environmental protection requirements, all printing companies have to strictly comply with relevant environmental laws and regulations in the selection and disposal of ink cleaning agents. Otherwise, it is a huge fine for them to wait. And revoked licenses, severe punishment will face jail. At present, printing companies in Europe, America, Japan, and other developed countries no longer use steam and kerosene as ink cleaners. They choose car wash water whose quality meets international or national environmental standards. Second, they will not be printed like ours. Like businesses, car washes that have washed blankets, rollers, or toxic substances such as ink behind the machine are poured into sewers or anywhere convenient. Instead, dirty car wash water is collected and sent to a dedicated processing center or The company recycles itself so that it basically prevents the pollution of the car wash water to the environment; at the same time, it will not only increase the production cost of the company, but it will bring considerable economic benefits to the company.

Economic Benefits - The principle of car wash water recycling is to regenerate the dirty car wash water into clean car wash water (its theoretical recovery rate is above 95%, the actual recovery rate is above 85%), and it can be recycled repeatedly for an unlimited number of times. Not only does it prevent the car wash water from polluting the environment, but it also saves more than 85% of the car wash water, which means that it saves more than 85% of the relevant production cost; at the same time, it can separate the ink and other toxic substances in the car wash water into solid form for separate treatment. Avoid environmental pollution.

So far, there have been at least two printing companies in Beijing (Beijing University Printing Factory and Beijing Lianxing Shengye Printing Co., Ltd.) using relevant processing equipment to recycle the used car wash water; and the economic benefits are very significant. Take Beijing Lianxing Shengye Printing Co., Ltd. as an example. After using FORMECO's recycling equipment, the purchase of car wash water from the previous 60-plus buckets per month to less than 20-barrels now reduces the cost for the company. We hope that in the near future, our printing companies can join this ranks for the sake of protecting their humanity's green homes, whether for the sake of their own interests or for the protection of the Earth's environment on which humanity depends. An obligation.