Low Alcohol to No-Alcohol - alcohol free printing!

The use of alcohol in the printing industry has long been considered essential.

It mixes with the water on the printing press and breaks down the surface tension, making it easier to keep the ink away from the non image area of the printing plate. The alcohol effectively makes the process of wetting the plate easier.

The drawback is that alcohol is volatile. It boils at a low temperature, this means it evaporates readily and is constantly being replenished.  The alcohol vapour is very noticeable in a print shop and the vapour once in the atmosphere contributes to low level smog and pollution, particularly a problem on still days. 

Severnprint have been reducing their use of alcohol over recent years – they were consistently printing with levels at about half of the industry average. Even still this still meant buying several tonnes of alcohol per year. Alcohol is a large source of VOC emissions in the UK print industry.

This summer we have made a big move – we have phased out the use of alcohol press by press. Now we no longer buy any alcohol as all the presses run alcohol free.

Neither do we use any alcohol substitutes. Alcohol free litho-printing has meant that the presses must be kept spotlessly clean and regularly monitored. It makes the printing process more difficult, especially with tricky jobs, however the skilled press room team said they could do it and so they have.

Their skill is saving several tonnes of iso-propyl alcohol evaporating into the atmosphere each year!