NICE and Coors UV-Curable Coatings for Aluminum Can Production

Over the last two years, the Coors Brewing Company has been conducting a pollution prevention and energy conservation project jointly with the DOE, EPA and Colorado Office of Energy Conservation, utilizing the NICE (National Industrial Competitiveness through Energy, Environment, and Economics) program. The goals of the project are to investigate a can printing technology developed at Coors, and in use for 20 years, which appears to have significant environmental, energy and cost advantages. The technology utilizes ultraviolet (UV) light to cure the decorative image and its overcoat on the exterior of beverage cans instead of conventional gas fired curing. The Coors plant is currently the only aluminum can manufacturing plant in the country using the UV technology. We wish to quantify and verity the pollution prevention and energy efficiency benefits of this technology, and compare this technology to the traditional technology which is in use at all other can manufacturing facilities.