Wishing to reduce its gas and electricity consumption and move closer to its goal of carbon neutrality by 2040, Roularta Media Group (RMG) invests 4.5 million euros in new dryers . In 2023, two Contiweb Ecoset/T dryers and one Contiweb Ecodry dryer will replace the three Manroland offset presses dating from 2008 and 2011 at its heatset printing plant in Roeselare, Belgium. Today, Belgium's largest offset site and Dutch brand Contiweb provide details of this project.
While some companies have switched from gas to UV for drying, Roularta Printing has decided to keep its gas burners. "We carefully studied UV curing, but we couldn't find a technical solution capable of supporting our business, our pace, our quality requirements and our safety standards." explains Steven Renders, Managing Director of Roularta Printing, in the press release.
Contiweb's Ecoset/T and Ecodry hot-air systems combine drying and afterburning in a single unit.
The drying section has an integrated afterburner that incinerates the ink solvents to produce clean air. The thermal energy obtained from this solvent combustion is used in the heating process, thus reducing energy consumption.
Save 50% on gas and 30% on electricity
For Steven Renders, the decision to replace external afterburners with these dryers with integrated afterburners was an easy one.
In fact, the latest 72-page magazine press to go into service in 2020 is already equipped with such a drying oven, and the results are unmistakable: "Integrated afterburners are a real game-changer for us"
The General Manager explains: "On the last line, we saw savings of 50% in gas consumption and around 30% in electricity consumption. This shows that we can expect similar results on the other lines."
With these new dryers, Roularta Printing is set to reduce its gas consumption by 25% and its electricity consumption by 5% across all site requirements.
Carbon neutral by 2040
For publisher and printer RMG, this Contiweb equipment is an important step in the sustainability plan it launched ten years ago.
Europe is pushing for carbon neutrality by 2050, but Roularta has set itself the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2040. Steven Renders states: "You can decide to invest now, or wait for legislation and spend your money in 10 or 15 years. We felt it was better to do it now, and show the market our crystal-clear sustainability plan and the real actions that support it and make a difference."
In addition to the installation of Contiweb dryers, Roularta will install a further 3,600 solar panels in 2024, in order to become more self-sufficient in terms of energy consumption, but also with improvements in insulation and lighting.
