Acoustic drying for Industrial Processes

The day-to-day operations of printers and converters are driven by the many variables of press operation, the need for quality, speed and low production costs including energy efficiency. These operations use solvent- or water-based inks and adhesives that require some method of drying other than ultraviolet (UV) or electron beam (EB) curing materials, which are cured using mercury lamps or an electron beam. Solvent-based ink and adhesive technologies have their own regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO, or incinerator), associated maintenance costs, and environmental compliance requirements that have become even more complex as the world moves toward the use of more sustainable materials.  This project is focused on testing new Acoustic Drying (AD) processes at two businesses located in SCE service territory. Test sites will be chosen to replace existing gas or electric based curing processes, and to provide a hybrid approach where only part of the process is replaced with AD.