Green initiatives at De La Rue
An ink recovery unit designed by a De La Rue Malta supervisor has been patented by the group's head office and is now being installed in its plants.
The ink recovery system was designed by senior print supervisor Paul Micallef, who retired last December. It has already been installed on four of the local plant's six machines.
"Paul came up with the idea two years ago and worked with the engineering department to design the prototype," environment, health and safety advisor David Galea said.
"Ink and paper are a major proportion of our expenses and due to their high value material usage is under constant review to identify ways of reducing it," he said.
The plant recovers approximately 25 per cent of the ink used. This will result in disposal of treated waste to landfill reducing overall by 25 per cent. This is just one of the various green initiatives being undertaken by De La Rue Malta, which helped the factory get ISO 14001 environmental accreditation last November. One of the most significant is a water re-cycling system, appropriately called an Aquasave. This was installed in 2003 at a cost of Lm300,000.
Malta uses a second-generation Aquasave, whereas most of the other De La Rue plants use the first version.
"This means that we have the best technology available," Mr Galea said.
"It recycles up to 97 per cent of the solution used."
Printing ink is spread onto the plate of bank note images, filling the engraved parts. The rest is wiped off by passing the plate through a drum containing a water based solution The amount of solution used is considerable: 600 litres per hour.
The solution is now being recycled using a machine called Aquasave, developed by KBA Giori, who make the printing machines. This uses a powder called Perlite, which sticks to the ink in the solution and makes it clump together and sink to the bottom - it takes one kilogram of Perlite to coagulate a kilogram of ink. The Aquasave machine forces the coagulated Perlite and ink through layers of very fine mesh, which allows the solution to flow through.
Once the balance of the solution is adjusted it can be re-used several times. Every alternate day, around 2,000 litres is removed and discharged after treatment, a far cry from the 70,000 litres a day before the Aquasave was installed.
"This was not done to save money as the payback period is probably medium to long-term," Mr Galea said.
The latest initiative is cleaning equipment, being installed this week, which uses wiping solution to clean the metal bins used for the inks.
"Until now, white spirit was used, which is not as environmentally friendly. The cleaner will reduce solvent use by half," Mr Galea said.
"And since the wiping solution itself is re-cycled through the Aquasave, we are getting double benefits."
The efforts will not end here. By December, the factory plans to introduce a new way to handle its waste paper (a misnomer as notes are actually printed on cotton).
"You can understand that our work is very sensitive so all waste has to be securely destroyed," he said.
For the past 32 years, De La Rue used an on-site incinerator but three years ago, it was clear that new legislation would make this impossible. The company therefore opted for a granulation plant, which chops the cotton into unrecognisable pieces.
"These will be compressed into briquettes and go to the landfill. Alternatively, if deemed of value the briquettes could be used by Wasteserv as fuel for the abattoir incinerator. The incinerator tests start in September when we will provide sample trimmings for them to try out.
"In any case, we are saving too as an incinerator that meets the new legislation would have absorbed significant capital cost along with an ongoing fuel bill. As it is we are investing in a granulator. Being green does not always mean being more expensive!"
"Paul came up with the idea two years ago and worked with the engineering department to design the prototype," environment, health and safety advisor David Galea said.
"Ink and paper are a major proportion of our expenses and due to their high value material usage is under constant review to identify ways of reducing it," he said.
The plant recovers approximately 25 per cent of the ink used. This will result in disposal of treated waste to landfill reducing overall by 25 per cent. This is just one of the various green initiatives being undertaken by De La Rue Malta, which helped the factory get ISO 14001 environmental accreditation last November. One of the most significant is a water re-cycling system, appropriately called an Aquasave. This was installed in 2003 at a cost of Lm300,000.
Malta uses a second-generation Aquasave, whereas most of the other De La Rue plants use the first version.
"This means that we have the best technology available," Mr Galea said.
"It recycles up to 97 per cent of the solution used."
Printing ink is spread onto the plate of bank note images, filling the engraved parts. The rest is wiped off by passing the plate through a drum containing a water based solution The amount of solution used is considerable: 600 litres per hour.
The solution is now being recycled using a machine called Aquasave, developed by KBA Giori, who make the printing machines. This uses a powder called Perlite, which sticks to the ink in the solution and makes it clump together and sink to the bottom - it takes one kilogram of Perlite to coagulate a kilogram of ink. The Aquasave machine forces the coagulated Perlite and ink through layers of very fine mesh, which allows the solution to flow through.
Once the balance of the solution is adjusted it can be re-used several times. Every alternate day, around 2,000 litres is removed and discharged after treatment, a far cry from the 70,000 litres a day before the Aquasave was installed.
"This was not done to save money as the payback period is probably medium to long-term," Mr Galea said.
The latest initiative is cleaning equipment, being installed this week, which uses wiping solution to clean the metal bins used for the inks.
"Until now, white spirit was used, which is not as environmentally friendly. The cleaner will reduce solvent use by half," Mr Galea said.
"And since the wiping solution itself is re-cycled through the Aquasave, we are getting double benefits."
The efforts will not end here. By December, the factory plans to introduce a new way to handle its waste paper (a misnomer as notes are actually printed on cotton).
"You can understand that our work is very sensitive so all waste has to be securely destroyed," he said.
For the past 32 years, De La Rue used an on-site incinerator but three years ago, it was clear that new legislation would make this impossible. The company therefore opted for a granulation plant, which chops the cotton into unrecognisable pieces.
"These will be compressed into briquettes and go to the landfill. Alternatively, if deemed of value the briquettes could be used by Wasteserv as fuel for the abattoir incinerator. The incinerator tests start in September when we will provide sample trimmings for them to try out.
"In any case, we are saving too as an incinerator that meets the new legislation would have absorbed significant capital cost along with an ongoing fuel bill. As it is we are investing in a granulator. Being green does not always mean being more expensive!"