4th June 2021

Crane Currency invests €2.6 million in a Water Treatment Plant

Supporting and protecting Malta’s environment

Crane Currency has invested €2.6 million to improve further the sustainability of its state of the art Malta banknote printing plant.  The investment is the installation of a water treatment plant within its premises that purifies and recycles the wiping solution used in the Intaglio printing process. Using an ultra-filtration process the purification process allows the solution to be re-used.

Approximately 500,000 litres of solution are used each week for intaglio printing at Crane Currency Malta, and 98% of this solution is recovered and re-used. The process has an impressive 0% water waste rate, an important benefit since Malta has no natural water resources.

“At Crane Currency our goal is to ensure that we are carrying out our work efficiently while also respecting the environment and ensuring the sustainability of our work practices. So far we have installed the first phase of the intaglio solution recovery plant, that being the ultra-filtration process” said John Scott, the Head of the Malta Facility.

The ultra-filtration process is a physical process for cleaning and recycling the wiping solution used in the intaglio printing presses, using  a wastewater free process. The plant uses ceramic membranes that enable very high percentages of wiping solution recovery, while also eliminating the use of chemicals necessary in traditional water treatment plants.

The next phase of this project will see the installation of a spray-dryer. This technology enables an 80% volume reduction of waste after the ultrafiltration process. The system uses a spray method where the ink sludge is sprayed in an air-heated column and transformed into a fine powder. This process enables a low energy operation to achieve a high reduction of waste volume.

This second phase of the project is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2021.