SME START INNOVATION
Beneficiary name: Hesse Trade Kft.
Call for proposals title: KKV START INNOVÁCIÓ
Call code: 2020.1.1.1-KKV-START
Project identifier: 2020.1.1.1-KKV-START-2020-00329
Summary of the project’s subject matter:
Contracted grant amount: HUF 19,996,370 non-refundable grant
Contracted grant rate: 60%
Planned physical completion date of the project: 2021.01.01 – 2021.12.31
The aim of the project is to boost the sales of developer-free printing plates for the printing industry, through experimentation with special washing chemicals and introducing them to the market.
Our goal is to reduce the use of harmful printing chemicals and promote the spread of chemical-free technology with the help of this grant.
Although developer-free plates offer good solutions for reducing chemical use, their use comes with certain compromises.
The issue stems from the fact that while the printing plate is ready for printing after exposure, the operator cannot see the full details of the images on the plate before inserting it into the printing press. Although many in the industry are open to the more environmentally friendly developer-free printing plates, this technical issue hinders their widespread adoption.
Typically, there are the following types of plates:
- Plates developed using many chemicals and water.
- Plates that require only washing, but use a lot of washing fluid.
- Plates that do not require chemical treatment at all.
Our task is to find a solution for fully chemical-free printing plates that can be occasionally washed (if necessary) but do not require it during regular production. This will significantly increase the use of fully environmentally friendly plates and solve the visual inspection problem. We are conducting tests with chemical-free plates using printing equipment set up in our warehouse and in printing companies. This allows us to find the right technology in our closed system, which we test in different printing setups. We hope that our test partners will also become buyers of the technology.
Our ultimate goal is to increase the popularity of chemical-free technology in the domestic market, thus replacing a significantly polluting part of the printing industry.
