Journal of Physics: Conference Series

PAPER • OPEN ACCESS

Analysis of Weather Data for Humidity Control for Paper Storage and
Printing Press in Abuja, Nigeria
To cite this article: O. O. Awolola and J. A. Olorunmaiye 2019 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 1378 042042

View the article online for updates and enhancements.

This content was downloaded from IP address 158.46.139.199 on 18/12/2019 at 14:36

International Conference on Engineering for Sustainable World IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1378 (2019) 042042 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1378/4/042042

Analysis of Weather Data for Humidity Control for Paper

Storage and Printing Press in Abuja, Nigeria
O. O. Awolola1 and J. A. Olorunmaiye2
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, P.M.B. 50, Ilaro, Ogun State, Nigeria
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ilorin, P.M.B. 1515, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria
Email: [email protected], [email protected],
Mobile No: +234-8027955316, +234-8036000053

Abstract-
One of the challenges of printing and paper industries is the issue of inappropriate
humidity in the environment where the paper mills and printing shops or stores are
located. Humidity of the environment is a factor of great concern for storage of papers
and when printing. This work considers the needed optimum relative humidity that is
required for high quality printing and analysis of a fifteen-year weather data of hourly
dry bulb temperature (TDB) and relative humidity (RH) for Abuja in the Federal
Capital Territory of Nigeria, obtained from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency
(NiMet). A bin width of 1°C and 5% were used for TDB and RH respectively. The
two-dimensional dry bulb temperature and relative humidity bin data were obtained
for each month of the year. High relative humidity which is inimical to high quality
printing production, occurs in many months of the year, especially June through
October, hence dehumidification process would be desirable during such periods. The
optimum relative humidity for quality printing of between 45%-55% occurred for
about 1027.9 hours out of the 8766 hours in the year. Therefore, it can be concluded
that dehumidification to the right humidity level is necessary most of the time in Abuja
for good quality printing work.

Keywords: Printing, relative humidity, dry bulb temperature, Meteorological

data.

1. Introduction

One of the oldest industries in Nigeria is publishing using the printing press. It was reported by
Oyedokun [1] that the first printing press was established in Calabar in 1846 by a Presbyterian
missionary named Reverend Hope Waddell.
Even with the advocacy of paperless meetings coupled with the promotion of the use of
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities, paper production still remains a
prominent industrial sector having direct bearing on educational development all over the world.
There are environmental challenges to printing and paper productions world over. One of the
technological developments to solve the environmental related problems is by using appropriate
air conditioning processes.
One of the areas of industrial applications of air conditioning [2] is printing which involves
control of the humidity during the printing processes. Printing processes entail running paper
through several different presses in which the atmospheric conditions should be maintained to
give appropriate printing results. Improper humidity of the environment in printing or paper
industry causes static electricity, curling or buckling of paper. The printing ink may fail to dry
as required in the process of printing.

Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution
of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
International Conference on Engineering for Sustainable World IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1378 (2019) 042042 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1378/4/042042

Paper is hygroscopic [3], a property which makes it absorb moisture from the environment. It
does this so as to attain moisture content equilibrium with the environment. At equilibrium it
does not take or give moisture to the surrounding air. This process of attaining moisture
equilibrium can be controlled for optimum printing result.
There are different types of printing with advancement in technology. These include off-set
printing, digital printing and ink jet printing.
In printing work, paper dimensional change is affected by either absorption of moisture from or
release of moisture to the atmosphere [4].
The most appropriate humidification systems for printing outfit are adiabatic systems which are
preferable to traditional isothermal systems with benefits which include reduced energy
consumption largely lower than 10% of the energy consumption of a traditional steam system
and evaporative cooling with the possibility of using these systems during hot weather to cool
the air which helps to absorb the heat generated by the printing machinery [3].
The temperature of paper significantly affects the relative humidity of the paper. Hence, the
environment in which paper is kept and utilized should be a prime consideration in printing
press. Exposing paper to wrong environment may render the paper not usable.
Fert on [5] asserted that different printing processes work best with certain amount of moisture,
proper humidity control is important to printing and there are certain benefits that can be
obtained for example having an improved printing quality because paper distortion is rid of and
static electricity is prevented.
For optimal printing work with digital printing, the RH level should be around 50-55%. With
humidity below 40%RH, the paper loses water and tends to change the shape, stick together
with other papers and attract dust from the environment [6].
In offset printing, moisture content has effect on the interaction between inks and the press, the
paper and the press and ink and the paper. A higher moisture level of above 55% RH in the
press shop is required. A lower RH will affect printing paper whereby the paper could be
curling, creasing and dot doubling [6].
In the ink jet, paper is prone to ink related challenges such as spreading, show through and
drying issues at low RH. Then printing will be achieved between 45-50% RH, a bit lower than
what is obtainable in the digital printing will react well to the fuser heat at this RH level.
          ! "#  
Territory of Nigeria [7].
This work is aimed at analyzing a 15-year hourly weather data of dry bulb temperature and
relative humidity obtained from meteorological agency NiMet and compiling of 2-
dimensional bin of the weather parameters and compare these with the required condition for
optimum printing work.

2. Methodology

2.1 Data collection

Hourly dry-bulb temperature and relative humidity data of 15 years of 1995-2009 for Abuja in
the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria were obtained from Nigerian Meteorological
Services (NiMet), Oshodi, Lagos. These data were obtained from NIMET form 131/3 for both
dry-bulb temperature and for relative humidity which were gathered using appropriate
instruments.
2.2 Data analysis

2
International Conference on Engineering for Sustainable World IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1378 (2019) 042042 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1378/4/042042

These data were keyed in and stored in the computer system using Microsoft excel office
software 2007 version. Visual Basic codes were written for statistical analysis and compilation
of the two-dimensional bin data of dry-bulb temperature/relative humidity. Bin sizes of 1°C and
5% were used for dry-bulb temperature and relative humidity, respectively. The two-
dimensional bin data of dry-bulb temperature/relative humidity shows the coincidence of both
weather parameters. Figure 1 shows the interface of the output of the two-dimensional bin data
of dry-bulb temperature/relative humidity.
Results were obtained for each month and the results for the 12 months data were summed up
to obtain a year report. The number in each cell of the interface gives the average number of
hours that the dry-bulb temperature and relative humidity coincides for each month. The total
for the 12 month gives the coincidence and spread of dry-bulb temperature and relative humidity
per year.

3. Result and discussions

The two-dimensional bin data of dry-bulb temperature/relative humidity for Abuja obtained
from total summation of results from each month of the twelve months are presented in Table
1. The value in each bin size is the number of hours that both dry-bulb temperature and relative
humidity coincide in that bin. The sum of the hours in all gives the sum of total hours in all the
12 months which is 8766 hours.
The lowest, highest and mode of dry bulb temperature bins were determined along with the
number of hours these bins occur which are given in the bracket below the bin name and equally
their counterpart in relative humidity is given in Table 2.The monthly number of hours in which
the relative humidity fall within 40-55% is shown in Figure 2.
Table 1 which shows the sum total of the average number of hours of 8766 hours from the 2-
dimensional bin data from the 12 months analysis, the desirable relative humidity of 40-45%
RH bin and 50-55% RH bin for any printing work vis-à-vis digital, offset and inkjet printing
occurs in the average total number of hours which is 1027.9 hours, this is indicated by the
coloured figures in the Table. The monthly occurrence of these number of hours is shown in
Table 2 which indicates that March has the highest number of hours of 204.8 hours, however
the ambient temperature of the press room must be lowered to meet desired temperature since
March is characterized with high temperature which is evident in Table 2 in which the modal
dry bulb temperature bin for the month is 26-27oC with about 65.6 hours.
The months of June through October with high relative humidity in the atmosphere which is
evident from Table 2, there is a great need for dehumidification of air conditioning process to a
level of achieving good printing, see Figure 2.
The modal relative humidity bin in January is 20-25% RH bin with an average of 67.57 hours
out the 744 hours in the month hence there may be need for humidification during this period
to attain the needed humidity for desirable printing work.

3
International Conference on Engineering for Sustainable World IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1378 (2019) 042042 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1378/4/042042

Figure 1: Programme interface for computing Two-Dimensional bin data of Dry bulb
temperature and Relative humidity

4
 Table 1: The Two -Dimensional Bin Data of Dry Bulb Temperature and Relative Humidity for Abuja
RH 0-5 5-10 10-15 15-20 20-25 25-30 30-35 35-40 40-45 45-50 50-55 55-60 60-65 65-70 70-75 75-80 80-85 85-90 90-95 95-100 100-105
Temp
12-13 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
13-14 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.3 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
14-15 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.4 1.0 0.8 0.1 0.3 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0
15-16 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.3 0.5 1.7 1.5 2.6 1.6 1.7 0.4 0.4 0.1 0.0 0.0
16-17 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.5 1.2 2.3 3.4 4.5 3.9 4.1 4.2 2.0 1.4 0.8 0.0 0.0 0
17-18 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.4 1.5 2.4 5.6 6.3 7.3 8.4 7.5 7.3 5.3 3.8 1.1 0.1 0.
18-19 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.4 0.8 2.1 3.6 7.3 8.1 9.9 11.8 10.5 12.9 12.1 8.0 6.5 3.9 0.2 0.0
19-20 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.5 1.8 3.0 4.8 9.9 10.4 13.5 12.1 10.2 15.1 13.7 8.8 12.3 7.0 2.1 1.3
20-21 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.4 1.7 3.2 5.6 9.7 9.6 11.0 11.5 13.2 16.2 13.8 16.9 15.5 15.8 19.1 46.0 14.9
Journal of Physics: Conference Series

21-22 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.3 0.6 2.7 5.0 10.0 10.3 11.8 11.5 11.1 17.0 15.9 18.3 18.7 18.1 21.2 67.6 182.5 22.1
22-23 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6 1.7 3.9 8.4 11.4 14.2 12.1 13.0 14.8 16.0 13.6 19.6 22.8 26.6 49.4 196.9 343.9 16.4
23-24 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.7 2.1 4.4 8.6 9.8 13.0 14.6 11.6 16.2 13.5 17.2 18.3 26.7 40.2 97.1 333.4 253.8 4.3
24-25 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.9 4.4 7.2 10.9 12.8 12.8 11.2 13.3 12.8 17.1 16.9 22.4 40.0 80.8 186.9 289.2 76.7 1.5
25-26 0.0 0.0 0.2 1.4 5.8 9.6 12.5 14.6 13.4 12.9 13.5 16.2 19.3 25.0 37.2 73.0 158.4 192.3 113.1 19.0 0.5
26-27 0.0 0.0 0.3 2.0 5.5 11.0 11.7 12.1 13.2 13.6 13.3 16.0 22.0 33.7 63.9 135.3 178.5 87.2 27.0 7.3 0.5
27-28 0.0 0.0 0.1 2.4 6.4 10.4 11.1 12.3 12.6 11.2 12.7 17.0 33.7 53.4 131.6 160.3 81.9 18.6 8.5 4.2 0.1
28-29 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.8 8.9 10.2 12.1 12.0 12.6 13.9 17.4 24.0 43.9 100.9 174.1 84.3 19.9 8.0 3.9 2.8 0.0

5
29-30 0.0 0.0 0.6 5.2 11.3 11.8 11.4 13.3 12.9 13.2 20.7 38.5 78.4 155.9 102.9 24.3 7.5 3.0 2.7 1.9 0. 2
30-31 0.0 0.0 0.7 7.4 14.3 15.2 13.9 15.6 14.2 19.6 32.3 46.9 115.2 116.8 27.1 6.3 3.8 1.4 1.7 1.4 0.2
International Conference on Engineering for Sustainable World

31-32 0.0 0.1 1.8 11.8 18.3 18.0 16.2 15.1 17.8 26.3 39.0 62.7 95.3 36.1 7.9 2.1 1.5 1.1 0.6 0.7 0.1
32-33 0.0 0.0 2.6 17.5 26.0 22.8 23.6 21.6 23.6 35.5 52.3 62.5 35.5 6.2 2.4 1.1 0.7 0.4 0.1 0.4 0.1
33-34 0.0 0.2 7.5 28.0 33.1 28.6 27.1 26.9 36.4 42.3 44.3 29.2 5.7 2.2 0.8 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.4 0.3 0.0
1378 (2019) 042042

34-35 0.0 0.2 8.0 29.4 32.7 28.7 27.0 26.2 37.5 39.6 24.7 6.2 1.3 0.8 0.5 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.0 0.0
35-36 0.0 0.2 11.7 29.2 30.2 25.4 21.5 26.9 35.5 21.1 5.3 0.8 0.5 0.3 0.5 0.5 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0
36-37 0.0 0.3 10.7 25.7 19.3 15.4 19.1 29.0 19.3 5.1 1.2 0.5 0.0 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0
37-38 0.0 0.2 8.0 15.1 12.9 11.5 14.1 14.9 6.3 0.9 0.5 0.3 0.5 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
38-39 0.0 0.4 7.4 7.0 6.9 6.8 5.5 3.6 1.0 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
39-40 0.0 0.1 1.8 3.4 2.0 1.2 1.9 0.4 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
40-41 0.0 0.1 0.3 0.8 0.8 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
41-42 0.0 0.0 0.4 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
42-43 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
3-44 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
44-45 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
IOP Publishing
doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1378/4/042042
International Conference on Engineering for Sustainable World IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1378 (2019) 042042 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1378/4/042042

Table 2: The dry bulb temperature (TDB) and relative humidity (RH) bins which have the
lowest and highest magnitudes and modal bins for each month with the average
number of hours in which the TDB and RH are in those bins in bracket.

Dry bulb Temperature bin Relative Humidity bin

Lowest Highest Modal bin Lowest Highest Modal bin
Month

value bin value bin (No of value bin value bin (No of
(No of hours) (No of hours) hours) (No of hours) (No of hours) hours)
Jan. 12-13 39-40 33-34 5-10 90-95 20-25
(0.13) (0.53) (50.87) (0.33) (1.8) (67.53)

Feb. 12-13 41-42 25-26 5-10 95-100 40-45

(0.08) (0.62) (49.65) (0.85) (0.15) (70.82)

Mar. 18-19 44-45 26-27 5-10 100-105 40-45

(0.07) (0.07) (65.60) (0.06) (0.07) (74.67)

Apr. 20-21 40-41 27-28 10-15 100-105 65-70

(0.20) (0.47) (68.73) (0.53) (0.40) (73.80)

May 20-21 38-39 25-26 25-30 100–105 90-95

(1.8) (0.33) (87.53) (0.13) (1.53) (107.93)

Jun. 19-20 39-40 24-25 45-50 100–105 90-95

(0.13) (0.07) (95.60) (0.40) (6.93) (155.93)

Jul. 18-19 32-33 23-24 45-50 100–105 90-95

(0.20) (0.6) (139.73) (0.07) (15.93) (195.53)

Aug. 19-20 31-32 23-24 50-55 100–105 95-100

(1.07) (1.8) (152.73) (0.4) (18.93) (226.67)

Sep. 19-20 35-36 22-23 45-50 100–105 95-100

(0.93) (0.07) (116.47) (0.07) (14.53) (194.07)

Oct. 17-18 39-40 22-23 25-30 100–105 90-95

(0.08) (0.08) (124.46) (0.46) (3.85) (176.15)

Nov. 15-16 37-38 22-23 10-15 95-100 90-95

(0.71) (0.93) (66.50) (0.07) (19.43) (84.50)

Dec. 12-13 37-38 21-22 10-15 95-100 60-85

(0.14) (3.71) (55.29) (2.21) (0.86) (66.71)

6
International Conference on Engineering for Sustainable World IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1378 (2019) 042042 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1378/4/042042

250

200
Number of hours

150

100

50

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Months

Figure 2: Number of hours in which the relative humidity fall within 40-55% RH
in each month (Numbers 1 – 12 used to represent January - December).

7
International Conference on Engineering for Sustainable World IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1378 (2019) 042042 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1378/4/042042

4. Conclusion

The analysis of weather data of both hourly dry bulb temperature and relative humidity for
Abuja was carried out to obtain 2-Dimensional bin data for each month and then cumulated for
the whole year. The months of June through October would need dehumidification for optimum
printing and some humidification process would be needed in January for better printing.

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge with appreciation: the provision of the weather data used in this work
by the Director and members of staff of Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NIMET, Oshodi,
Lagos, Nigeria.

Reference
[1] Oyedokun, T. T. (2013). Problems of publishing House in Nigeria, a term paper
submitted in department of Library and Information Science, faculty of Communication
and Information science of University of Ilorin. Accessed on April, 25 2019
[2] Stoeker, W. F., & Jones, J. W, (1982). Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, 2nd Edition,
Mcgraw-Hill Book Company.
[3] Coin, S. (2015). Why does humidity need to be controlled in the printing
https://www.carel.com/blog/-/blogs/why-does-humidity-need-to-be-controlled-in-the-
printing-industry-Accessed on April, 25 2019
[4] Gagnon, T (2011). For your print information: The importance of relative humidity,
Graphic Arts Magazine.htm, graphicsartsmag.com, accessed on April, 25 2019
[5] Fenton, H (2010). How Temperature and Humidity Affect Digital Printing, The Digital
Nirvana.htm, accessed on April, 25 2019
[6] Ruckstuhl, C (2018). Why Proper Humidity Control Is Vital to Paper and Print Quality
Results, The Importance of Humidity in the Printing Industry.htm, accessed on April,
25 2019
[7] Awolola, O. O., & Olorunmaiye, J. A. (2018). Feasibility of Evaporative Cooler for
Economic Development of Rural Areas in Nigeria. Proceedings of Nigeria Society of
Engineers, National Conference, Kaduna (November 30, 2018).