Toray Industries, Inc.

Kumiko Asato

Katsuhiro Uehara

Shinji Tanaka

Toshiki Kito

A method for making a photosensitive resin printing plate which comprises at least (1) the exposure step of forming a latent image in an aqueous-developable photosensitive resin layer of a printing plate material by irradiating the printing plate material with a ray of active light, (2) the development step of forming a relief image from the latent image by dissolving or dispersing the photosensitive resin layer that forms the latent image into a developer that contains water as a main component, and (3) the drying step of removing the developer from the printing plate having the relief image, the method being characterized in that a photosensitive resin layer component-dissolved or dispersed developer produced in the development step is subjected to a reduced pressure distillation, and is therefore reused as a developer, and a residue produced by the reduced pressure distillation is solidified. Furthermore, a photosensitive resin printing plate material developer processing apparatus for processing a photosensitive resin layer component-containing developer characterized by comprising an evaporator that reduces a pressure of the developer, a cooler that recovers a developer by condensing a developer vapor, and a detachable inner container provided within the evaporator. A developer produced as a result of the development of a photosensitive resin printing plate material and, more particularly, an aqueous-developable photosensitive resin printing plate material, can be reused without a reduction in the developing speed nor aggregation of a photosensitive resin layer component.

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Kusatsu, Japan

Kumiko Asato