PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2010

BOTTLING / FILLING 23 PET planet insider Vol. 11 No. 06/10 www.petpla.net Blomax 8 CL PH ‘next-generation’ line, tailored for Henkel’s special requirements, has been in operation since 2009. It has eight blow stations, takes up just 20m² of floorspace and has an output of 11,200 1l, 10,400 2l, and 8,000 3l bottles an hour. It is capable of making PET bottles of up to four litres, if required. Henkel is now able to produce large-size PET bottles inline and to introduce recessed grips to large-size PET bottles. Without the new InnoPET line, the company would probably have needed four linear machines using PET granulate in a single-step procedure. The InnoPET Blomax 8 CL PH incorporates well-established KHS Corpoplast blow-moulding components, which means that many of the features are already familiar to operators and they can get up to speed quickly. Preferential heating process When Henkel and KHS Corpoplast began working together in the mid- 1990s, the demand for stretch blow moulded PET bottles was, primarily, in the beverage industry – which used round bottles. However, Henkel has traditionally marketed its products in oval containers. KHS Corpoplast’s first challenge was to design a stretch blow moulding process that could be applied to oval bottles in such a way that the controlled, optimum, and even distribution of material was guaranteed. It also had to use as little material as possible and produce bottles with perfect appearance. This led to the application of the preferen- tial heating process, which was fully approved for use in the Henkel plant after extensive testing in the lab and in production. Stretch blow moulding with preferential heating process Preferential heating selectively preheats specific segments of the pre- form walls to different temperatures in the blow moulder before the process begins, which ensures homogenous distribution of materials across the entire circumference of the oval bot- tles. Preforms are held in place during heating by a mandrel and heated from two sides. Selective preform heating can also be used in the production of trigger or sprayer bottles, where conveyor mandrels achieve precise alignment by using studs integrated into the preforms. KHS Corpoplast also provided expertise on adapting heating parameters to cope with, for example, vari-colouring. The fully- developed preferential heating proc- ess was defined as a standard for all KHS Corpoplast stretch blow mould- ers in operation at Henkel, which now produces about 400 million stretch blow moulded PET bottles a year. Particularly in countries which prefer large containers, the 3l PET bottle has helped boost sales of fabric softener enormously. Bottles & Shapes program in action Since 2000 KHS Corpoplast has partnered with Henkel in the design of over 30 new variations on the PET bottle, from concept to industrial manufacture. Its Bottles & Shapes program was used in the redesign of large PET bottles with recessed grips, which are manufactured on the InnoPET Blomax 8 CL PH. A prime objective was to make PET bottles as easy to handle as extrusion blow moulded plastic bottles with reach- through handles and, at the same time, to reduce the container’s weight. KHS Corpoplast and Henkel CEE collaborated in developing the shape of the container, using computer simulation. The selected variants were then manufactured on a lab machine that works just like production stretch blow moulders. Thorough testing and analysis ensured that the designs met all Henkel’s technical, functional and marketing specifications. Henkel in Vienna also produces ttrigger or sprayer bottles on InnoPET Blomax stretch blow moulders. The InnoPET Blomax 8 CL PH is now making PET bottles with recessed grips in 1, 2 and 3l sizes for the Perwoll, Silan, and Fewa brands of laundry detergent. In countries such as the Czech Repub- lic, where consumers prefer family packs, Henkel’s new 3l PET bottle has helped the big bottle to achieve eight percent of the fabric softener market. The InnoPET line has an inte- grated ring vessel that receives compressed air that is not required to blow mould the PET bottles and feeds it straight back into the system. Henkel says that the new Airback II air return system achieves 30% compressed air feedback; the savings have led to the ring vessel being earmarked as standard for future KHS Corpoplast stretch blow moulders. The factory in Vienna plans to produce 230,000t of goods in 2010, 150,000 of which are to be liquid products. Henkel CEE believes that its high levels of investment, which facilitated innovations in both con- cept and packaging developed in partnership with KHS Corpoplast, will make a significant contribution to the planned increase in production flexibility brought about by the inline manufacture of PET bottles.