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Note Printing Australia Ltd (NPA) case studyNPA Logo

Where is water used and how much?
Note Printing Australia Ltd (NPA), located at Craigieburn, Victoria, manufactures currency and passports for Australia and overseas markets.  Unlike conventional printing, banknote printing requires specialised processes. The bank notes are produced on an Intaglio printing press, which requires a wiping solution as an input.  The wiping solution is made up of 99% water and 1% chemicals. 

The Intaglio process produces approximately 30,000 litres of wastewater a day.
The environmental impact of this practice was considered by NPA to be unsustainable in terms of water usage and corporate social responsibility. 

Water Conservation Initiative
The total cost of installation, update and commissioning of the equipment was $2.8M.
The system uses an ultra high filtration membrane technology that removes the ink component from the spent wiping solution and recycles up to 90% of the process water back to the printing presses. 

The solution is initially collected in a set of sedimentation tanks to enable the heavy particles to precipitate.  The remaining solution is moved to another set of tanks and then pumped through a set of ceramic membranes. 
On Site Treatment Plant
The recycled wiping solution is pumped into the clean solution tanks for reuse in the printing process.  The final waste from the filtration system is pumped into another tank as sludge for disposal off-site. 

This system has been successfully employed at a number of banknote printing facilities around the world. 

Water Conservation Results
The daily water usage in the printing process dropped from 30,000 to 3,000 L per day.
The savings of $100,000 per year include not only the water and trade waste disposal costs, but also in water treatment chemicals costs. Electricity consumption has slightly increased.

For more information
Ms Simona Chirila, Quality & Environment Advisor
Telephone 9303 0205
Email Simona.chirila@npal.com.au