Quadrant CMS and dispack create one-way PET beer keg
Quadrant Creative Molding & Systems (Quadrant CMS) is supporting Dispack Projects in creating a new generation one-way PET beer keg with a recyclable valve system as a cost-effective and easy-to-transport alternative to traditional multi-trip stainless steel kegs.
Dispack Projects’ new one-way Dolium 20- and 30-liter kegs incorporate valve systems injection molded in glass reinforced polyamide, as well as protective, stability-adding external keg rings for improved handling and storage. Both elements were designed and developed through close co-operation between Quadrant CMS in Tielt, Belgium and Dispack Projects.
To develop a cost-effective and more environmental friendly option for the beer industry, Dispack’s founder Albert Wauters, draught and keg expert, had to ensure that product integrity, food safety regulations and an extensive list of performance requirements set by beverage producers, distributors and end-users would be met by the keg and its various accessories, including an integrated pressure relief valve system. At the same time, priority was also given to limiting the operational impact versus the traditional keg by achieving compatibility with existing filling lines and draught equipment.
In line with these factors, the partners chose the market’s four most popular metal valves and their corresponding couplers as the main reference points for the development.
For the final Dolium PET kegs, Dispack and Quadrant CMS developed new valves in four different versions that can be used with the most common couplers on the market for connecting kegs to draft dispensing systems. Particular attention was given to accommodating Doliums’s plastic valves to the variations in tolerance of the metal couplers from different manufacturers. The system uses glass reinforced polyamide.
The development of the new one-way beer kegs involved use of computer-aided design and engineering, as well as production of rapid prototypes. Final testing of the accompanying top and bottom handling rings as well as the valve system and the safety pressure relief valve have been carried out on parts made on single-cavity prototype molds before final multi-cavity molds were built.
The new Dolium one-way beer kegs offer extra benefits to existing one-way PET versions available on the market. Offering the four variants of the plastic valve systems for example, customers have no need to investment in modifications for the filling of the kegs or for connecting them to the draft systems.
The keg, with special top and bottom rings, has been designed so that it can be handled in vertical and horizontal way without the need for a supplementary protective cover. The rings make the keg stackable and ensure that it is protected during handling.
