Krones develops square-shaped 500-ml PET bottle for aseptic filling that weighs 12.5 grams using Contiform AseptBloc technology; 20-gram PET bottle was standard weight required for aseptic filling, until now, says company
Elyse Blye
NEUTRAUBLING, Germany
,
May 9, 2014
(press release)
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12.5 gram lightweight for aseptic filling
A 500 millilitre PET bottle only needs to weigh in at a meagre 12.5 gram to make it suitable for aseptic filling which is gentle on the product. Krones AG in Neutraubling has now developed such a lightweight bottle and will be presenting it for the first time at the interpack 2014. The use of the light, square aseptic container, on the one hand, has only been made possible due to the development of innovative Contiform AseptBloc technology. On the other, the bottle itself was created using an adapted container design which takes the haptics of the bottle into particular consideration and uses a light 33 millimetre neck finish as a basis. This innovative, unique design makes use of a distinctive square, rounded-off bottle design. Up until now, a 20 gram PET bottle was the standard weight required for aseptic filling. The use of less material produces a noticeable reduction in material costs and contributes to the sustainable, ecological filling of sensitive beverages with a high degree of microbiological safety. The container is completely recyclable and can be filled at high speeds.
Preform sterilisation combined with sterile blow moulder
In the innovative Contiform AseptBloc technology which forms the basis for this system, Krones is now also including its stretch blow moulder in the aseptic system by combining the preform sterilisation unit with a sterile blow moulder. In doing so, is fulfilling the optimum conditions needed for aseptic filling with its preform sterilisation unit, aseptic blowing module, aseptic filler and aseptic capper. As few interfaces as possible and a detailed sterilisation concept for all components of the aseptic filling process are the secret of the Contiform AsepticBloc's success. Sterilising preforms has a wide range of advantages over sterilising previously blown PET containers. The preforms have a considerably simpler shape for sterilisation and, of course, a much smaller surface area. In contrast to the bottles, there is no risk that the preforms will shrink. This, on the one hand, allows the bottle weight to be reduced, thus saving material and, on the other, it makes the relax blowing method obsolete. During sterilisation, the process window for reaching the necessary germ reduction is considerably larger than for bottles, thus increasing the reliability and stability of the process.
With the design of the new aseptic container, aseptically filled beverages can now make use of lightweighting technology and be produced at lower cost and with a more careful use of resources.
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