PETpla.net Insider 01+02 / 2013

BOTTLING / FILLING 29 PET planet insider Vol. 14 No. 01+02/13 www.petpla.net and Guarana, and even as a sugar-free version with Stevia. The Kofola Group portfolio is complemented by many other non-alcoholic drinks. The biggest brands sold by the Kofola Group besides Kofola itself are the Rajec spring waters, which include flavoured natural waters as well as the classic fizzy types, the Jupí brand with its broad range of syrup beverages, Vinea grape drink, and the Semtex energy drink. The Kofola range also embraces Snipp fruit juices and nectars, Jupík, a fruit beverage developed for children and which includes smoothies and near- water products, Pickwick Iced Tea, Chito Tonic, and several soft drinks Kofola has a licence to bottle, such as Orangina and RC Cola. In Slovakia the company has a financial share of 16% on the market for alcohol-free beverages. In the Czech Republic the Kofola Group is currently in third place with a market share of 12.4%, and comes seventh in Poland with a 3.5% slice of the cake. With its vision of becoming the second largest producer of non-alcoholic beverages in Central Europe, the company is aiming to take up the first or second slots in the cola and mineral water segments of these markets. In the other soft drinks segments Kofola would like to come at least third. At the moment Kofola brand products are exported to Hungary, Croa- tia, Romania, and the USA, for instance. The entire product portfolio is bottled in everything from exclusively designed glass restaurant bottles through a diverse spectrum of PET containers holding from 0.2 to 1.5l to 20 and 50l kegs and 0.25 and 0.5l cans. Approxi- mately 80% of total sales are in PET. The remaining 20% are sold in glass, cans, and kegs. The filling process When Kofola was looking for a fill- ing technology to process all kinds of fruit beverage, from smoothies to their beverage innovation with chunks of aloe vera, recently launched to market, the company opted for KHS hotfill technol- ogy. This KHS hotfill process separates the solids phase from the liquid phase and has been specifically designed to bottle fruit beverages containing pieces of fruit and fibres The new hotfill PET line is now installed at the Mnichovo Hradiste BERICAP the plastic closure company committed to your success www.bericap.com Research and Development Developing closure solutions to meet your specific requirements Mould Technology A detailed understanding of mould design with in-house mould making facilities in Hungary and Germany Global Presence Local production in 21 strategically located factories. An on-going strategy of stregthening our global presence Capping Technology and Know-How Special advice on capping technology with on-going technical support Innovation and Flexibility Our broad range of plastic closures is the basis for generating new innovation. Our expertise covers aseptic, hot fill, barrier, anti-counter- feiting TE-systems, consumer convenience and child resistance *Based on an article by Ludwig Clüsserath, Development Manager, Filling and Process Equip- ment, KHS GmbH, Bad Kreuznach, Germany, Alois Monzel, Manager, Process Technology Com- petence Center, KHS GmbH, Bad Kreuznach, Germany and Libor Smutek, KHS Sales Office in the Czech Republic, KHS GmbH, Budweis. site near Prague in the Czech Republic. At present, Kofola is using the line to fill the Snipp aloe vera beverage, and the Jupi, Jupik, and Pickwick brands in four different PET bottle sizes of 0.2, 0.33, 0.5, and 0.7l. The filling process is necessarily a complex one, involving heating and pas- teurisation prior to filling. The fruit chunks are handled separately, being fed into the carrier fluid from a solids preparation tank. Solids make up 40% to 60% of the bever- age. Throughout the process the entire line is sterilised from time to time. The Innofill NV-H fills the hot liquid into the PET bottles by free-flow, non-contact filling. Using this equipment, Kofola is able to hotfill beverages containing no solid matter, or fruit beverages with a low percentage of solids. The Innofill NV-H is suitable for the filling of fruit pieces that measure up to 3mm across, and of fruit fibres up to 15mm in length and 1.5mm in diameter in bottles ranging in capacity from 0.2 and 3l. Up and down the stream The bottles are capped by an Innofill SV screw capper. After a fill level check and recooling in an Innopas recooler, the PET bottles are dressed with sleeve labels and packaged into shrink packs. Upstream of the filling process Kofola has installed a KHS InnoPET Blomax Series IV stretch blow moulder with eight blow stations. It would also be possible to directly monoblock the stretch blow moulder with the filling system and hygieni- cally enclose this monoblock for production under ultra-clean conditions. As the ambi- ent conditions and products processed at Kofola do not require this, this option was deliberately omitted. www.khs.com http://company.kofola.cz/ The principle of piston filling, with low shear stress for the product, prevents the solids from being damaged.