PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2013

BOTTLE MAKING 29 PET planet insider Vol. 14 No. 11/13 www.petpla.net Sidel develops StarLite base for PET bottles Increased resistance, less weight Sidel’s new PET bottle base for still drinks is said to significantly increase the base resist- ance and stability. This means it can improve bottle rigidity, while lowering package weight and also energy consumption during production. The base is especially suited for water and juices, and under certain conditions can also be used for other still beverages. Benefitting from two PET design innovations The Sidel StarLite bottle base utilises two proprietary PET design innovations: the Edge Beam, which is a specific groove structure that improves base stiffness, and the Smart Disc, a disc structure that rein- forces the base to prevent deforma- tion. The base can be retrofitted into existing bottle designs and shapes, and applied to existing production lines, using Sidel’s accompanying StarLite mould bases. The design can be used for all Sidel blowing platforms and output speeds, including the new Sidel Matrix system for liquid packag- ing, and the following filling solutions: regular, ultra clean and aseptic. Increasing value Sidel’s packaging experts ana- lysed different base designs to achieve optimum strength. They then carried out numerous computer simulations followed by real-world physical tests. In those tests the Star- Lite design resulted in up to a 30% increase in top-load dent resistance when the bottle is on a pallet, and up to a 55% increase in side-load resist- ance, a particular advantage when the bottle is on a conveyor or in a vending machine, for example. Overall pallet integrity also increased by up to 50% during transportation. In tests the base also produced increased resistance to extreme temperatures (hot or cold), making it especially useful for storage in harsh conditions. The bottle lasted up to 25 days without bottle deformation in 50°C conditions, and recorded up to a 50% decrease in base rollout under frozen conditions. Regarding reduced package weight, the base offers increased lightweighting possibilities of up to 1g of PET for a 0.5l bottle or 2g on a 1.5l format. Sidel claims that the base is also compatible with nitrogen drop technology, which further increases lightweighting opportunities. Additionally, if the bottle pressure generated by the nitrogen dosing is 0.8bar or under, StarLite can replace the traditional mini-petaloid base usually associated with carbonated soft drinks in the mind of consumers. Finally, the required blowing pressure for the base is 16- 20bar, versus up to 25bars previously. This means a reduction of up to 25% in air pressure. www.sidel.com/starlite