Ink manufacturing uses compressed air for pigment dispersion, milling, mixing, filling and process control. The processes are sensitive to contamination, and the equipment runs in an environment of fine pigment dust.
Key applications
- Bead and triple-roll mill operation
- Mixing and let-down vessel control
- Filling, capping and labelling lines
- Pneumatic conveying of pigments and resins
Air quality
Control air must be dry and oil-free for reliable actuation, and product-contact air must be clean to avoid contaminating the ink. Heavy-duty intake filtration protects the compressor from pigment dust.
System design
Provide oil-free compression with drying and filtration, separate instrument air from utility air, and plan for the batch nature of the process with adequate receiver capacity. Redundancy supports continuous filling lines.