Substitution of Organic Solvent Cleaning Agents in the Lithographic Printing Industry

摘要

The effectiveness of replacing organic solvents with vegetable oil-based cleaning agents (VCA) for cleaning offset lithographic printing presses has been evaluated at four print works. The occu- pational and environmental hazards and the technical performance of the organic solvents has been compared with the substitutes. The VCA have a lower environmental impact than the organic solvent cleaning agents, with lower VOC emissions and less waste produced. Occupational exposure to solvents vapours is, as expected, less with the non-volatile VCA.