Dry washing technology for
parts recycling
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Recycling can never be labeled effective if it generates significant environmental impact in its process. Based on this recognition, Ricoh has been making solid progress in developing resource-recirculating production systems.
The development of original dry washing technology is among the latest examples.
Previously, we used water to remove toner stain from used parts, which inevitably involved wastewater treatment and energy consumption to dry the washed parts. Using the newly developed technology, which cleans to a quality as high as that of ultrasonic cleaning processes, toner stains are scraped off by blasting with tiny sheets of film, rather than water, at high speed.
This was first put into practical use for Ricoh Gotemba Plant's organic photoconductor unit cartridge recycling process, which saw considerably less operation time and less energy use for wastewater treatment and drying processes.
We also made this technology available for the recycling process at Ricoh Industrie France S.A.S. in fiscal 2008.
| Removal of stains |
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Separation and discharge of dirt |
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| The sheets of resin film are hit hard against the surface in a high-speed air flow to remove the stains. |
Only dirt is discharged, and the sheets of resin film are circulated and used repeatedly. |
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