Currently there are 3 Developer Reduction Units available in the market from Procam Control, MetaFix and Process Management Systems.
All claim 40% to 60% Developer Reduction with out effecting the Plates' quality. Anybody knows anything about these Brands? Which one is better? Thank you.
Armya - be careful before deciding to use such a system... the effectiveness will depend highly on what plate/chemistry system you're using.
These systems work basically by being a super-fine filtration system, eliminating particulates from the chemistry. That's great only if the limiting factor on chemistry life is the buildup of particulates (i.e. you have to dump the chemistry because it's too saturated with gunk), not if the bath is chemically exhausted (i.e. chemical reactions with the maximum amount of coating/substrate, or maximum exposure to air).
"Older" plate chemistry systems tend to get exhausted due to particulate buildup, so these filters might work ok. However, newer systems (at least from Kodak) are
much more clean working, and already deliver huge chemical savings without the need of a filter like that.
Examples would be the T300 developer for our EXD system, the Trillian SP Neutral Plate solution, the T206/206R system for our violet plates, the 1090 developer for our ThermalNews Gold and Sword Excel systems, and so forth. All offer 50-70% reduction in chemical use versus previous systems, and will
not benefit from added filtration (because they're exceptionally clean working to start with). That's the trend you're going to see long term, so the need for such filters will diminish in the future.
The first thing I'd look into is your plate and chemistry system, to see if there are any improved options there.
Kevin.
