A dampening fluid useful in offset ink printing applications contains water and a surfactant whose structure can be altered. The alteration in structure aids in reducing accumulation of the surfactant on the surface of an imaging member. The surfactant can be decomposed, switched between cis-trans states, or polymerizable with ink that is subsequently placed on the surface.

A method for cleaning a rotating surface of a printing press cylinder or a rotating surface of a printing press roller, or a rotating surface of a print form or a transfer form arranged on a printing press cylinder within a printing unit includes the steps of: applying a liquid, water-based washing agent, containing at least 60% water and the rest at least surfactants, onto the surface to be cleaned within the printing unit; dissolving contaminations from the surface to be cleaned within the printing unit with the help of the washing agent and a cleaning device; and removing the dissolved contaminations from the surface to be cleaned within the printing unit, at least with the help of the cleaning device.

A micro-fiber cleaning plate comprising: a micro-fiber sheet including fibers that extend outward from a surface of the microfiber sheet in a uniform direction; a leading edge locking strip connected to the micro-fiber sheet along a first edge; and a rear edge locking strip connected to the micro-fiber sheet along a second edge opposite the first edge, wherein the leading edge locking strip engages to the rear edge locking strip to secure the micro-fiber cleaning plate to a roll of an anilox print system.

A micro-fibre anilox cleaning blanket having a cleaning surface area defined by a first pair of parallel edges located on opposing ends of the blanket and a second pair of edges that run between said end edges along either side of the blanket is provided. A connection strip is provided on each end edge of the blanket. The connection strips are configured to form non-permanent slotted relationships with complementary connection elements on print cylinder attachment means such that the blanket can be mounted on a print cylinder. Also provided is a system that includes a plurality of cleaning blankets and a variety of different types of print cylinder attachment means that can be combined to achieve a wide range of cleaning blanket assemblies that correspond to different print cylinder designs.