OQ participated in the first ever virtual.drupa in April 2021. Over the 4-day event, their specialists explored the future of flexible packaging in conversation with print and packaging professionals and presented their Propyls solutions for packaging converters. OQ also engaged with industry professionals discussing their current challenges and opportunities when it comes to solvents, ink, waste, sustainability, and value for money.
In a special breakout session, joined by guest expert Prof. Armin Weichmann from Hochschule der Medien (HdM) Stuttgart, OQ’s specialists drilled down into three distinct areas where Propyls really add value: “less solvent”, “less ink” and “less waste”. Attendees learned how Propyls deliver higher quality, lower odour, higher printing speed, and optimal ink stability.
By switching to Propyls, the overall manufacturing process is more sustainable and environmentally friendly. In addition, thanks to its slower evaporation behaviour, propyls reduce vapour concentration and VOC emissions into the atmosphere – and for converters, this is vitally important.
Sustainable printing
Those characteristics also deliver ecological benefits: better use of resources, less waste and less odour – representing a win-win for ink manufacturers, converters and the environment.
With a major and increasing focus on sustainable printing – and the switch to water-based printing not being feasible for many applications, there is demand for a more sustainable solvent.
With Propyls, up to 20% less solvent consumption, and in some cases even more, can be achieved.
The flash point
Propyls lower boiling and flash point compared to traditional solvents, leads to reduced solvent consumption, positively impacting the stability of the product as Propyl’s molecules are less volatile.
OQ can show why evaporation rate is so important to print performance and can demonstrate the big gap between conventional and propyls solvents in terms of overall evaporation rate.
Communicating the science
Together with Prof. Weichmann, OQ explained the science behind the story during the breakout session. Propyls reduce the overall defects in a print job. When a printer wants to increase print speed, it is recommended to use a medium-evaporating solvent - such as Propyls blends, which helps to reduce friction. Higher temperatures that occur when increasing speed, lead to faster evaporation of conventional solvents, causing the anilox or cylinder cells to fill with dry ink, which in turn causes defects in the print job.
Greater ink stability is another key benefit when switching to Propyls. With conventional solvents, the use of retarders is helpful in slowing evaporation. However, it affects ink viscosity, leading to imbalanced ink during refills in the printing process.
Using Propyls as a diluting solvent blend helps the ink viscosity to be maintained at the target value, which means that new technologies and techniques can be applied.
Reusable ink
Inks diluted with retarders typically have too high a viscosity when returned from inventory to the press. Propyls maintains good viscosity – meaning that the ink can readily be reused. Furthermore, Propyls attract less humidity, positively impacting on water spoilage and foam formation
This all means much higher productivity, improved standards, and better overall equipment efficiency. For the 100+ industry professionals that joined OQ at virtual.drupa21, these practical, operational efficiencies proved to be very good news.
Even better news
Even better is that while everybody is keen to reduce their footprint and resource consumption, OQ Propyls does that while maintaining quality standards, without changing technology or going for big investments.
By switching to Propyls, converters can maintain their technology standards, don’t need to invest and can still benefit from resource efficiencies – and of course, there are the welcome cost savings. With the market for flexible packaging growing, OQ invested in a new n-Propanol unit in the US in 2018: a move that means the company can make good on its commitment to serving the growth ambitions of flexible packaging printers around the globe and to serve their demand for a superior solvents concept.
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