packaging

INTERNATIONAL CLEANER PRODUCTION INFORMATION CLEARINGHOUSE

Case Study #247

1. Headline: Indonesia Cleaner Industrial Production Program

(ICIP): Cleaner Production Assessment for a Flexible

Packaging Manufacturer

2. Background:

Executive Summary

A Cleaner production assessment was conducted by ICIP in a

facility that manufactures flexible packaging. The purpose

of the assessment was to identify cleaner production

options that would reduce the quantity of toxic materials,

other raw materials, and energy used in the manufacturing

process; demonstrate the economic and environmental value

of a cleaner production assessment; and improve

manufacturing competitiveness and product quality. The

assessment was done by a team of US-based cleaner

production experts, US process specialists, and Indonesian

consultants.

The team identified 9 cleaner production options that

could save the facility Rp. 2.14 billion/year for an

implementation cost of Rp. 95.7 million. Both the cylinder-

making and printing areas of the facility were found to

have significant cleaner production opportunities. If

implemented, the opportunities will save and estimated

3,780,000 meters of printed substrate; 23,010 kg of ink;

35,700 liters each of toluene and ethyl acetate; and 1,450

kg of copper, nickel and chrome.

Most significantly, the implementation of these

opportunities would lead to a dramatic reduction in

rejects, especially of cylinders. For example, 150

cylinders per month (30% of total cylinder production) are

placed on the press and fail before 4,000 meters of

substrate are printed. The reduction of the reject rate

alone will save press downtime, process materials, and

environmental releases, and will increase profitability

without a need for increased sales.

Facility Background

The facility is a medium-sized flexible packing

manufacturer. The plant started operations in 1986 and

presently employs 300 workers, operating in three shifts,

five days per week. Occasionally the plant will be

operated more than five days per week when required by

production demands. Product output is about 50 million

meters of printed packaging annually. For its monthly

production, this facility uses an estimated 5 tons of

paper, 20 tons of aluminum sheet, 100 tons of extruded

plastic, 18,000 liters of ethyl acetate, 16,000 liters of

toluene, and 25 tons of ink of various colors.

3. Cleaner Production Principle: The assessment identified

various cleaner production applications including: process

modification, good housekeeping, new technology,

recycling, and material substitution.

4. Description of Cleaner Production Application:

Process Description

The process of producing flexible packaging can be divided

into five main processes. These are: 1) cylinder making;

2) image creation; 3) printing; 4) laminating; and 5)

slitting. The cylinder making process prepares a steel

tube to accept an etched image that will eventually

transfer ink to a substrate during the printing process.

The process involves electroplating the tube with nickel,

then copper, transferring an image to the surface of the

tube, and finally chrome electroplating to protect the

image from abrasion during the printing process. Numerous

polishing steps, both by hand and by automatic polishing

machines, are required throughout the process.

After reproducing the image on the surface of the

cylinder, the etched image is corrected and "proofed" by

actually printing a sample. At any stage a defect may be

detected, requiring grinding, polishing, etching or

dechroming to correct the problem. Some cylinders are

produced from a bare steel surface, while others are

produced by removing an image from a previously used

cylinder through dechroming, etching and grinding.

After proofing, the etched cylinder is placed in a

printing press and flooded with a solvent-based ink. A

different color (up to seven colors) is used for each

cylinder. The ink is transferred to the substrate

(polypropylene, OPP, polyethylene, or low-density

polyethylene) by rotating the cylinder through the ink

"fountain", wiping away the excess with a "doctor blade",

and then rotating the cylinder against the substrate. Some

products go through a laminating process that is done on

separate equipment. The final product is sized acceding to

customer needs by slitting large multiple-image rolls of

printed, laminated material to smaller rolls that may be

only one image wide.

Environmental Problems

There are three main types of contaminants form this

facility that adversely impact the environment. They are:

1) vapors which are released from chemical solutions for

cylinder making and dechroming, solvent adhesive, and ink;

2) liquid chemicals and heavy metals that are discharged

from spent cylinder making solutions, spent ink, and spent

solvent; and 3) solid waste which includes copper dust,

sludge, spent film from the cylinder-making process;

excess substrate from slitting, printing and laminating

and bobbin cutting.

Cleaner Production Opportunities

The assessment identified 9 cleaner production

opportunities that address the problems identified above.

Listed below are the opportunities recommended for this

facility and the environmental and financial benefits and

financial costs of each.

Summary of Recommended Cleaner Production Opportunities

Cylinder making--

1. Change concentrations maintain baths, improve

storage-- reduces releases of chrome nickel, and

copper to the environment, with an implementation

cost of Rp 12.9 million per year and a financial

savings of Rp 1.5 billion per year. An immediate

payback period.

2. Replace toluene with alkaline cleaner--

eliminates the releases of toluene to water at a cost

of Rp 4.5 million to implement Rp 5.9 million/year,

with a financial savings of Rp 16.9 million per year

with a pay back period od 5.3 months.

3. Recover copper fines eliminates copper releases

from this source at a cost of Rp 110,000 per year and

a financial savings of Rp 325,000 per year and a pay

back period of 4 months.

Printing--

1. Recover ink form cans- reduces ink consumption

between 3840 and 5760 kg/year. No implementation

costs and a financial benefit of Rp 30.7 to 46

million/year. With an immediate payback.

2. Computerized ink inventory and use color

matching system reduces waste ink reduces rejects due

to poor ink quality. Implementation costs of Rp 91

millon and financial benefits os Rp 138 million per

year with a pay back period of 8 months.

3. Zahn cup clean-up reduces solvent use by 90% and

reduces solvent releases. Costs of Rp 22,000 and

financial benefits of 167 million per year and an

immediate pay back period.

4. Modify doctor blade settings reduces releases of

chrome due to need for rework. No implementation

cost and a financial benefit of Rp 88 million / year

and an immediate payback

5. Improve temporary fluid storage reduces of and

exposure to evaporated solvents. Implementation

costs of Rp 22,000 and financial benefits of Rp 43.6

million per year and an immediate pay back period.

Engraving-- Indexing film to cylinder key reduces

substrate loss. Implementation costs of Rp 220,000 with

financial benefits of 160 million per year and an

immediate payback period.

Total implementation costs of opportunities estimated at

Rp 95.7 million (one-time costs); Rp 18.9 million per year

and financial benefits estimated a Rp 2.14 billion to 2.16

billion per year.

Cylinder Making-- The current composition of the three

plating baths causes many defects on the finished

cylinders. Of the total 500 cylinders that are chrome

plated every month, about 50% must be replated. This is

due to improper plating bath composition, maintenance,

dechroming, and grinding procedures. Taking measures to

improved this process will benefit the entire production

process, improving quality of the finished product and

reducing waste. The actions that should be taken to reduce

the number of defects on the cylinders include:

1) Change the concentrations of the sulfuric acid and

alter the components in the nickel, acid copper and chrome

baths. For a nominal cost, these measures will reduce

problems such as cracking, corrosion, hardness, and lack

of brightness on the cylinders.

2) Maintain the acid copper, chrome, and nickel process

solutions according to standard practice. Currently, the

solutions are changed with a high frequency. The acid

copper solution should last several years rather than two

weeks and the chrome and nickel solutions should seldom

require replacement.

3) During dechroming, maintain the hydrochloric acid

concentration at 10% by volume and plug the cylinders to

prevent HCL attack of the exposed steel on the interior of

the cylinder.

4) Improve storage conditions by drying cylinders and

placing them in a plastic bag with silica gel to prevent

corrosion in storage. It is estimated that 100 cylinders

per month must be rechromed because of corrosion from the

HCL bath and from the humid conditions.

Total saving from these changes could reach RP. 1.5

billion/year form reduced press downtime and less need for

rework. Increases in annual operating cost are Rp. 12.8

million/year. The payback period for these changes is 3.5

days.

Cleaning-- Toluene is currently used to clean the

cylinders. This system should be replaced with an alkaline

cleaning system which will improve cleaning and reduce the

need for toluene. The cost of a new cleaning system is Rp.

4,500,000. Annual savings are Rp. 10,920,000. The payback

period is 5.3 months.

Copper Recovery-- The grinding operation has and output of

solid copper fines that are currently directed outside to

the drainage ditch, where they have collected to some

depth. To eliminate copper releases, the fines in the

drainage ditch should be scooped out, washed and sold as

scrap. A porous bag should be attached to the grinder

output pipe to collect all fines in the future. Net

savings are Rp. 215000/year and the payback period is 4

months.

Ink Waste-- When a new can of ink is opened at the press,

it is divided up and diluted with solvent. The empty ink

can is then put aside next to the cleaning tank and filled

with waste solvents. The cans still contain some ink which

can be recovered and used on the press. This will reduce

ink consumption, saving between Rp. 30.7 and 46 million

each year.

Improve Ink Management-- The flow of ink through this

facility is complicated and inefficient. There is little

inventory control and many cans of ink remain in the

warehouse for several years, often becoming unusable.

Excess ink at the printing presses often remains unused

and evaporates. A computer system should be installed to

track shelf inventory and ink usage. A color matching

system and a new spectrometer would also enable the ink

manager to do color matching more efficiently. These

recommendations reduce the amount of ink returned to the

supplier or thrown away. Installation and training costs

are Rp. 91,000,000; annual ink savings are Rp.

138,000,000. The payback period is 8 months.

Solvent Use-- The viscosity of ink in the fountain is

monitored regularly using a Zahn cup. The Zahn cup is

washed after checking the viscosity. To do this, the

operator soaks the Zahn cup in fresh solvent. This solvent

is considered waste solvent after 3 Zahn cup cleanings. To

reduce the solvent used in the process by 90%, the

facility could use a triple counter rinse system which

would ensure that solvent was thrown out only after it was

no longer usable. The system could save the facility Rp.

167,132,160/year. Installation costs are less than Rp.

22,000.

Doctor blades-- Doctor blades are used to remove excess

ink form the cylinder before the impression is made on the

substrate. The facility could change the material of the

doctor blade from stainless to carbon steel, ensure that

it is mounted properly, and set the blade at a steeper

angle to reduce the entrapment of particles under the

blade. With these changes, the doctor blade will perform

better, keeping impurities from getting on to the print

surface of the cylinder and reducing the production of

waste. Savings are expected to be Rp. 88,200,000/year.

Reduce Solvent Losses in Temporary Ink Storage-- Several

ink cans reside in temporary storage near the presses at

any given time. Many of these are left with pouring holes

open or are cut to expose half the lid. This results in

evaporation of the inks, exposing workers to harmful

fumes. All ink cans in temporary storage should be sealed

when not in use, and durable plastic lids can be used for

the doctor blade cleaning drums. The savings from reducing

solvent evaporation can reach Rp. 43,649,000 per year.

Implementation cost is Rp. 22,000 to install new lids.

Indexing Film to Cylinder Keyway-- Typically, several

cylinders are used (one for each color) during any given

printing run. The cylinders must be properly aligned to

ensure that colors are overlayed correctly. The current

method used to position the cylinders does not index the

beginning of the film to a constant point on the cylinder

and successive cylinders on the press are in alignment at

the beginning of a run only by chance. This random

orientation of a set of cylinders causes mis-registration

at the beginning of a run wasting substrate, ink, and

press time. A pointer mounted in a fixed relation to the

collar can be used to position the film on the cylinder at

a constant point. Implementation cost is Rp. 220,000 and

savings are Rp. 160 million per year.

Conclusion

Many of the product quality and environmental problems of

this facility stem from problems in making and storing the

cylinders used in the printing process. Improving this

process to reduce rejects will significantly improve the

quality of the product, save the facility a substantial

amount of money each year, and reduce the impact of this

facility on the environment.

5. Economics: See above.

6. Advantages: See above.

7. Constraints: See above.

8. Contacts:

Indonesia Cleaner Industrial Production programme

Mashill Tower 20th floor

Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav. 25

Jakarta 12920

Indonesia

TEL: (62 21) 5267681

(62 21) 5267682

(62 21) 5267683

(62 21) 5267684

FAX: (62 21) 5267680

Internet: icip@indo.net.id

9. Keywords: USAID, Indonesia, packaging, flexible

packaging, material substitution, process modification,

good housekeeping, recycling, ICIP, electroplating,

plating, iron and steel, heavy metal, chrome, nickel,

copper, solvent, toluene, acid, alkaline cleaning

10. Reviewer's comments: This case study was carried out in a

developing country in which EP3 has an established

programme. It was submitted to UNEP IE and edited for the

ICPIC diskette in August 1995. It has not undergone a

formal technical review.