VOCs (volatile organic compounds) arising from fusers in printers, solvent inks in inkjet printers, or wet POD systems cause environmental problems at present. Therefore, efficient elimination technologies are in high demand. We will introduce our novel VOC elimination system utilizing thermally activated semiconductors (TASC). The TASC technology is characterized by the use of highly oxidative holes generated by thermal excitation of semiconductors. As is well known, the number of electrons and holes can be created in accordance with an exponential function of temperature according to the semiconductor theory. This clearly indicates the formation of a vast number of charge carriers when heated at about 350-500 °C. The first process of the decomposition reaction is the capture of bonded electrons (i.e. oxidation) from VOC molecules, even polymers, leaving behind free radicals. The free radical is unstable and can propagate throughout the molecule at 350-500 °C. This makes the whole molecule unstable and induces a radical splitting resulting in the fragmentation of the molecule. The fragmented molecules then react with oxygen in air to completely burn to give rise to H2O and CO2. Our system is simple, small and low cost, and thus can easily be integrated into office printers or wet POD systems.
Y. Tsukada, Y. Suzuki, H. Takahashi, J. Mizuguchi, "VOC Elimination in Printers by Means of Thermally Activated Oxide Semiconductors (TASC)" in Proc. IS&T Int'l Conf. on Digital Printing Technologies and Digital Fabrication (NIP29), 2013, pp 425 - 428, https://doi.org/10.2352/ISSN.2169-4451.2013.29.1.art00041_2