Consumables
Less replacement at WAZ
Friday 25. July 2008 - dampening solution filtration for Essen and Hagen plants
The significant reduction of the replacement of dampening solution has convinced the WAZ-Group. Its WIFAG rotary presses for newspaper printing at its Essen and Hagen plant will be equipped with seven dampening solution fine filtration systems. These delta.f filtration units will be supplied by technotrans AG, the world’s leading supplier of offset printing systems. The new equipment completes an integrated technotrans system solution based on preinstalled dampening solution circulators, spray dampening units and a central ink supply.
The two plants belong to the WAZ Media Group and are among Europe’s largest and most modern print shops. The publisher’s presses in Essen print a large part of the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ), Germany’s largest regional newspaper, as well as the entire edition of a second regional paper, the Neue Ruhr Zeitung / Neue Rhein Zeitung (NRZ). The seven state-of-the-art WIFAG OF 470 presses print some 600,000 pages a day, six days a week, including a number of third-party orders and the publisher’s own advertising pages. The printing and publishing plant in Hagen handles the Monday through Saturday editions of the Westfälische Rundschau (WR), the Westfalenpost (WP) and part of the local editions of the WAZ – for a total of more than 600,000 copies with 85 local editions.
The continued growth and success of the entire WAZ Media Group are based, not least, on the innovative approach of its decision-makers. The principle of always using state-of-the-art production equipment in all its departments enables the company to implement modern and highly flexible production processes. The WAZ Media Group strives for top-level quality in all areas. This is reflected not only in their choice of printing and processing machines, but also in their search for innovative peripheral equipment. One of the most recent requirements was to ensure the consistently high quality of the dampening solution. The ideal solution was found with technotrans.
A high degree of process stability and consistent print quality depend largely on the quality of the dampening solution. From an economic perspective, efforts required to keep the quality high should be minimal.
Dampening solution is affected by a variety of factors during printing: It is contaminated by ink particles, paper dust and other substances that are separated from the printing substrate. These elements can quickly contaminate the entire dampening solution circuit, resulting in considerable maintenance work. In addition, expensive additives as well as dampening solution must be replaced and recycled.
The latest filtration innovation made by technotrans for newspaper printing companies with spray dampening solutions is the delta.f unit. Typically, the contaminated return flow from the spray dampening units flows directly into a disposal system. The delta.f unit, however, collects the dampening solution, cleans it, and feeds it back into the process. The dripping and reflex water flows directly into the working tank of the delta.f without temporary storage. The liquid is then strained at high speed through the special ceramic membrane and cleaned of solids and oils by microfiltration so that it can be reused in the printing process. In contrast to established systems, the delta.f does not need an intermediate tank. This prevents the liquid stored from becoming contaminated with algae and bacteria. The delta.f works without consumables and returns 99% of the dampening solution back into the system. As a result, the disposal costs and the need for fresh additives can be drastically reduced.
Apart from the positive impact on the stability of the printing process and the high level of production safety, one major advantage of the filtration system is that it can be retrofitted to nearly all types of dampening solution circulators.