HEIDELBERG GTO 52-2 DI

The advantages of Waterless Offset printing
Never before has offset printing had such quality.

Heidelberg DI Offset
With the modern digital (DI – Digital Imaging) waterless offset two-color press from HEIDELBERG, GTO52 DI, the colors are more vibrant and the printing quality remains stable throughout the entire run.

Thanks to waterless offset technology, we achieve excellent performance at higher resolutions and LPI compared to the usual. It reproduces colors that conventional offset machines cannot, on both coated and uncoated papers.

What is Waterless Offset Printing?
Environmentally Friendly
As you may already know, offset printing (lithography or planography) is based on the fact that ink (oily) does not mix with water. Based on this observation, the inventor of lithography created a plate (today’s printing plate) with two distinct areas: ink-loving areas where the ink adheres, and water-loving areas where water adheres. A dampened roller would hydrate the water-loving areas, followed by an inked roller coating the ink-loving areas. This principle still applies today.

However, this process has one major drawback: water. Despite technological advances reducing the negative effects, the problem persists.

With waterless inks and plates, there is no such issue since water is not used at all. This results in “cleaner” prints—both environmentally and in practice.

Why without water?
Printing with a conventional offset press requires the operator to manage a complex mixture of dampening “water” and ink. The water used in conventional offset is not just pure water—it is optimized with numerous chemicals to improve the dampening of the plate. These typically include surfactants, detergents, wetting agents, acids, gums, and alcohols, all of which make the water more fluid and stabilize interactions with the plate and ink. This solution is commonly called “fountain solution.”

Greener
Eliminating the fountain solution provides clear benefits. Conventional offset printing consumes about 3.5 liters of water per 8,000 full-color sheets (70 × 100 cm). Depending on the region, water use may be more or less critical, but in any case, water is a natural resource consumed during conventional offset printing.

Cleaner
Conventional offset creates waste. The fountain solution, once exposed to inks, solvents, and paper residues, becomes contaminated and returns these back into the circulation tank feeding the press. After about a week of production, the fountain solution is “dirty” and generally discarded as industrial waste. Thus, besides saving large amounts of fresh water, waterless printing produces no industrial wastewater—a double benefit.

More Efficient
Since conventional printing requires a chemical balance between two liquids, waterless printing starts faster and achieves color stability quicker. This means fewer waste sheets and lower startup costs. Waterless printing is also more stable throughout the run, keeping colors consistent and reducing waste caused by adjustments.

Sharper Images
Waterless printing produces sharper and more consistent dots than conventional offset. It also has lower dot gain, allowing higher ink densities without muddying colors. The combination of sharper dots and higher ink density creates greater print contrast. Waterless printing delivers more vivid and vibrant colors than conventional offset. Moreover, thanks to its stability and lower dot gain, finer screens (higher LPI) can be used, enabling higher resolution and more photorealistic printing.

Substrate Options
There are many applications where water creates additional challenges. For example, UV inks don’t interact well with water on press. UV is often used for printing on non-absorbent substrates like plastics. When the substrate doesn’t absorb water, maintaining the ink-water balance becomes very difficult. Waterless printing is an excellent choice for UV printing, offering easier operation and greater stability.

Simpler
Conventional offset is a complex process requiring the maintenance of chemical interactions during ink transfer to the paper or substrate. Waterless printing, by contrast, is primarily a physical process, where the natural properties of ink and plate interact to allow proper ink transfer. It is a simpler printing method than conventional offset.

Smarter
Better for the environment, more efficient operation, brighter and sharper prints, more stable colors, and more substrate options—waterless printing is simply the better choice.