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Environmental Performance of Digital Printing. Literature Study

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Environmental Performance of Digital Printing. Literature Study VTT CREATES BUSINESS FROM TECHNOLOGY Technology and market foresight • Strategic research • Product and service development • IPR and licensing VTT RESEARCH NOTES 2538 • Assessments, testing, inspection, certification • Technology and innovation management • Technology partnership • • • VTT RESEARCH NOTES 2538 ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE OF DIGITAL PRINTING PERFORMANCE OF DIGITAL 2538 ENVIRONMENTAL • VTT RESEARCH NOTES Digital printing technology has developed considerably in recent years. Electropho- tography and inkjet are gaining ground by enabling new products as well as taking markets from the traditional printing methods. The environmental performance of the digital printing is marketed to be more sustainable than of the traditional print- ing methods. This literature survey looks at digital prining methods and digitally printed products from the environmental standpoint. The report also presents some methods for assessing the environmental performance of digital printing operations at the company level. Furthermore, main environmental indicators, such as energy and materials consumption, are presented. Pentti Viluksela Merja Kariniemi & Minna Nors Environmental performance of digital printing Literature study ISBN 978-951-38-7630-2 (soft back ed.) ISBN 978-951-38-7631-9 (URL: http://www.vtt.fi/publications/index.jsp) ISSN 1235-0605 (soft back ed.) ISSN 1455-0873 (URL: http://www.vtt.fi/publications/index.jsp) VTT TIEDOTTEITA – RESEARCH NOTES 2538 Environmental performance of digital printing Literature study Pentti Viluksela Merja Kariniemi & Minna Nors ISBN 978-951-38-7630-2 (soft back ed.) ISSN 1235-0605 (soft back ed.) ISBN 978-951-38-7631-9 (URL: http://www.vtt.fi/publications/index.jsp) ISSN 1455-0865 (URL: http://www.vtt.fi/publications/index.jsp) Copyright © VTT 2010 JULKAISIJA – UTGIVARE – PUBLISHER VTT, Vuorimiehentie 5, PL 1000, 02044 VTT puh. vaihde 020 722 111, faksi 020 722 4374 VTT, Bergsmansvägen 5, PB 1000, 02044 VTT tel. växel 020 722 111, fax 020 722 4374 VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Vuorimiehentie 5, P.O. Box 1000, FI-02044 VTT, Finland phone internat. +358 20 722 111, fax +358 20 722 4374 Technical editing Mirjami Pullinen Text formatting Raija Sahlstedt Cover picture Nanna Kariniemi Edita Prima Oy, Helsinki 2010 Pentti Viluksela, Merja Kariniemi & Minna Nors. Environmental performance of digital printing – Literature study. Espoo 2010. VTT Tiedotteita – Research Notes 2538. 106 p. + app. 27 p. Keywords digital printing, environmental impacts, indicators Abstract The objective of this literature study is to summarise the present situation and future prospects of digital printing technologies and markets, to review the exist- ing publicly available information on the environmental impacts of digital print- ing, and to present suitable indicators for assessing the environmental perform- ance of digital printing. Digital printing methods have developed considerably in recent years, both in terms of quality and productivity. New products based on the variable data print- ing capability of digital printing have been introduced. Digital methods have also taken market share from mechanical printing methods in the on-demand and short-run production of traditional products. The market share of digital printing will continue to increase in the future. There is little published research on the environmental impacts of digital print- ing. The analysed literature indicates that digital methods have a higher energy and ink/toner consumption than mechanical methods, but their chemicals and water consumption and waste output are lower. Paper consumption and emis- sions to air are difficult to assess due to the lack of data. More research is needed to obtain a better and more reliable understanding. Environmental indicators used in earlier studies of printing can be used for digital printing as well. These include physical and monetary input and output figures like energy and materials consumption, emissions and waste output. The suitable functional units are the weight and the surface area of products, e.g. tonne of printed products or million duplex printed A4 sheets. 3 Preface This study is a part of a larger research project “Lean development with renew- able resources” (Leader) that started in 2007. This study has been conducted mainly by Pentti Viluksela from Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sci- ences. The coordination of this study was from VTT. The Leader project has been funded by Metsäliitto, Myllykoski, Stora Enso and UPM-Kymmene, Graafisen Teollisuuden Tutkimussäätiö (GTTS, The Graphic Industry Research Foundation) and The Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovations – Tekes. 4 Contents Abstract............................................................................................................................ 3 Preface ............................................................................................................................. 4 List of abbreviations ....................................................................................................... 8 1. Introduction........................................................................................................... 11 1.1 Background.................................................................................................... 11 1.2 Objective and scope of the report .................................................................. 13 1.3 Digital and mechanical printing methods ....................................................... 14 2. Digital printing techniques and their development prospects ......................... 15 2.1 Electrophotography........................................................................................ 16 2.1.1 Technology ................................................................................................ 16 2.1.2 Toners and toner fusing............................................................................. 17 2.1.3 Electrophotographic presses ..................................................................... 20 2.1.4 Future prospects........................................................................................ 22 2.2 Inkjet .............................................................................................................. 23 2.2.1 Technology ................................................................................................ 23 2.2.2 Inks............................................................................................................ 25 2.2.3 Inkjet papers .............................................................................................. 27 2.2.4 Inkjet presses ............................................................................................ 27 2.2.5 Future prospects........................................................................................ 28 2.3 Discussion on digital printing methods........................................................... 30 2.3.1 Digital vs. mechanical................................................................................ 30 2.3.2 Inkjet vs. electrophotography..................................................................... 30 2.3.3 Digital presses ........................................................................................... 31 2.3.4 Technical comparison................................................................................ 32 3. Applications, markets and prospects for digitally printed products ............... 34 3.1 Print on demand............................................................................................. 35 3.2 Transactional, promotional and transpromo................................................... 37 3.3 Traditional graphic products........................................................................... 38 3.3.1 Newspapers............................................................................................... 38 3.3.2 Magazines ................................................................................................. 38 3.3.3 Books......................................................................................................... 38 5 3.4 Packaging ...................................................................................................... 39 3.5 Other applications .......................................................................................... 40 3.6 Discussion on digital printing applications...................................................... 41 4. Environmental performance evaluation ............................................................. 45 4.1 Environmental performance evaluation frameworks ...................................... 46 4.1.1 ISO 14031:1999 Environmental management – Environmental performance evaluation – Guidelines........................................................ 46 4.1.2 Environmental indicators of the Global Reporting Initiative........................ 47 4.1.3 Environmental Management Accounting ................................................... 48 4.1.4 Selecting the suitable environmental indicator framework......................... 50 4.1.5 Other metrics and indicators...................................................................... 51 4.2 Environmental indicators of printing ............................................................... 52 4.2.1 Functional unit ........................................................................................... 53 4.2.2 Proposed sets
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