De Pere, Wis. - In December 2009, a Manroland Lithoman IV 80 page press with a web width of 2250 mm press was commissioned at the COPTIP, Modena, Italy facility. This was the first installation of the new Dual-Dry RTO drying system in Italy. Since the start-up, MEGTEC has been tracking gas consumption on a daily basis and analyzing the results with a special software analysis tool called the X-counter. Actually, in average 16 Nm3/h for all production conditions - printing, make ready, heat-up, blanket wash have been recorded for the Dual-Dry RTO. Gas consumption for integrated dryers is highly dependent on the production conditions and above all, the ink coverage, paper-weight, actual printing speed and blanket wash frequency. "Actually we do not know what will be produced on presses due to the variability inherent in printing, but we have collected and analyzed large amounts of data from many sites with our conventional Dual-Dry dryers" explains Colin Morris, Director of Sales in Europe, Middle East and Africa for MEGTEC's Printing Products Group. "This allows us to reliably predict gas consumption for a longer period and we have proven that the Dual-Dry RTO is the most energy efficient dryer for high volume, wide format heatset presses in the world."

Giancarlo Panini, President at COPTIP confirms, "We are very satisfied with the low gas consumption but as well with the overall performance regarding drying, web handling of the dryer and the technical and service support we have received from MEGTEC. The Dual-Dry RTO has contributed significantly to reducing our carbon footprint. Publishers are increasingly taking note of a company's environmental credentials when making its purchasing decisions."

MEGTEC has integrated a Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer (RTO) into the drying system. The high thermal efficiency of 95% of the internal ceramic heat exchanger reduces the gas consumption by 50% compared to the best-in-market conventional systems. Through its unique design, it is possible to produce in auto thermal mode, without gas, under many production conditions.

Depending on the gas price, annual savings of approximately 70.000€ can be expected on a wide commercial press.

MEGTEC installed eight (8) Dual-Dry RTO dryers in 2009 and for customers like COPTIP, energy savings becomes more and more important. Colin Morris stated that energy savings are not the only benefit from the RTO technology: "It is the combination of low energy consumption and low emissions which make the Dual-Dry RTO so attractive. The technology is more expensive, but it pays back on the customer's bottom line from day one."

Morris continues, "Printers increasingly recognize that their own customers are becoming more environmentally aware and so are having to demonstrate, through equipment purchases, their own environmental credentials and ethos. The reduction in natural gas consumption has an immediate saving in the output of the often-spoken-about greenhouse gas, Carbon Dioxide. Over a 10-year period, compared to a conventional dryer for an 80-page press, the estimated saving in Carbon Dioxide is over 4000 tonnes. The Carbon Monoxide and Oxides of Nitrogen guarantees given for the Dual-Dry RTO are half of the current EC standard. In very competitive market conditions, the green benefits of the DDRTO can be used to promote and differentiate the company from its competitors.