Xerox Gearing Up to Produce Energy-Efficient Toner

The Xerox Corporation is installing six 25,000-gallon tanks at its Webster, N.Y., toner production plant, leading up to when it begins making a toner next year that requires less energy to use.

The company's Ultra Low-Melt EA (emulsion aggregation) Toner melts at as much as 45 degrees lower than current EA toner, and can cut printer power use by 15-30 percent. For printers that use toner, 50-80 percent of their power use is put towards melting toner and sealing it to paper.

Scientists at Xerox Research Centre Canada developed EA toner, which was first introduced in 2002. EA toner is made through a nanotechnology-based process, which grows toner particles to exact sizes, shapes and structures.

Non-EA toner is made by pulverizing plastic resin, a process that does not always result in uniform particle sizes. EA technology ends up using less energy, produces sharper images, creates less waste and uses less toner. Pages printed with EA toner use 40-50 percent less material than those printed with other toner.