A printing press, and an apparatus and a process for regenerating a printing
plate
can repetitiously reuse the same printing plate and shorten time for decomposition
of image areas formed by a hydrophobic organic compound under irradiation with
activating light to delete the image areas. A process for regenerating a printing
plate including a photosensitive layer, formed on the surface of a substrate, having
a photocatalyst exhibits hydrophilicity responsive to activating light having energy
higher than the photocatalyst's band-gap energy, and one or more hydrophobic image
areas, formed on the surface of the photosensitive layer and operable to hold ink,
comprises the steps of: removing ink remaining on the printing plate; hydrophilizing
the surface of the printing plate by irradiating with the activating light and
by heating the printing plate to delete the hydrophobic image areas; and applying
an organic compound onto the printing plate.