This work was performed into a cardboard plant in order to reduce the freshwater consumption. Statistical experimental design was applied to investigate the effect of cleaning program, ink colour class and detergent concentration on ink circuit cleaning operation of flexographic printing machines. The results indicated that the proposed models fitted well with residual ink removal and cleaning water consumption (R2 > 0.99). For a better residual ink removal of the first colour class, it is suitable to employ cleaning program number 1 with 2% of detergent. However, if a residual ink of second colour class has to be removed, cleaning program number 2 and 2% of detergent are appropriate. At the optimum conditions, the volume of water required for residual ink removal from flexographic machines can be reduced by up to 26%. These results can contribute to the development of water consumption reduction models in cardboard plants and clean production implementation.

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