PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2013

TRADE SHOW REVIEW 36 PET planet insider Vol. 14 No. 11/13 www.petpla.net On the milky way Visitors to the P.E.T. Engineering stand were 125% up on 2009. This encouraging result was credited to the new ultra light-weighted pro- jects presented. The Evolight projects were already featured in issue 9. Evolight 1.5l can be used both for flat products, weighing 18.9g, and for sparkling ones, weighing just 22.5g. The innovative structure, which alternates rigid rib areas with flat areas to discharge the force, allows good values of both axial (240N) and radial top load that guarantee a high performance while pouring. With the support of Husky and Novapet, P.E.T. Engineering devel- oped an ultra-light bottle for milk, weighing just 18.5g for fresh milk, 19.5g for extended shelf life and 21.5g for UHT. The lightening, as well as a combined study of the preform and container, comes also from the adop- tion of the material, DCU by Novapet, that enables the same barrier per- formance as a multilayer preform to be achieved, but with lower machin- ery cost and reduced production waste. With its bottles for HO.RE.CA ., blown with Glasstar by Novapet, P.E.T. Engineering showed an attractive alternative to glass for premium products. www.petengineering.com Pressureless accumulation Europool was present at the Drinktec 2013 with its proposals for engineering, han- dling and automation. The featured “Aculine” accumulation system is a pressureless accu- mulation system on single way and allows the handling of shaped containers with no con- tact between them. Europool equipment can handle all type of containers: PET and glass bottles, cans, bricks and secondary ones such as shrinks, cartons, crates, pallets etc... for speeds from 5,000 up to 50,000 bph. The company’s services and products range from feasibility studies and engineering service through conveyors and automation, dryers, warmers, coolers and pasteurisers to upgrad- ing and relocation of existing bottling plants, turnkey services and after sales services www.europool.biz Aseptic filling and grouping, strapping and palletising The Contiform AseptBloc, which was unveiled by Krones at drinktec 2013, takes a different approach to decontamination: it sterilises preforms, rather than finished bottles. It consists of a sterile blow-moulder combined with filler and closer, with integrated process technology for aseptic applications. Immediately after heating, preforms are sent to the sterile zone and treated with hydrogen per- oxide (H 2 O 2 ) gas. Preforms feature a more even shape and surface than bottles and are very much smaller; Krones says that this means the system substantially reduces both the amount of work and costs involved. The company asserts that the system optimises the treatment of sensi- tive products like juice, ice tea, tea, energy drinks, bever- ages with a particle content, UHT milk or milk-based mixed drinks, from beginning to end. Directly downstream of the oven the preforms enter a hermetically sealed sterile zone, which they do not leave until they have been transformed into fully blow-moulded, aseptically filled and capped bot- tles. The system is claimed to cut water consumption while also improving microbiological safety. Preform decon- tamination does not cause any shrinkage, which can be found in full-size bottle decontamination. The Contiform AseptBloc can also cope with extremely lightweight PET containers. It can achieve outputs of up to 48,000bph and does not require additional devices, such as a hygiene centre or a sterile-water UHT unit. Its single control system covers all aseptic processes. Krones’ new EvoLite Bloc inte- grates the EvoLite pack strapping machine with the Robobox pack grouping station and the new Mod- ulpal Pro 1AD palletiser. Noncon- forming packs are removed from the flow by means of a new rejection unit located at the transition to the Robobox. Electronic digital displays visually simplify any change-over to a different type of pack. The pack strapper produces packs with an integrated carrying handle for maximised resource-econ- omy. Producing a LitePac of six plastic bottles offers poten- tial savings, compared to shrink-wrapped packs, in both packaging material and energy, with cost savings of up to 74% claimed. EvoLite does not need a shrink tunnel or a handle applicator, which cuts energy consumption by up to 90% and helps to reduce the machine’s carbon footprint. In the EvoLite packer’s infeed module, containers arriving in a continuous flow are distributed between two lanes. Four strapping units then produce the LitePacs in the strap- ping module. Robobox is designed for fast and consistent grouping of packs of non-returnables. It distributes and turns them, which offers scope for layer form variation. The new Modulpal Pro 1AD non-returnables palletiser has been designed for speeds of up to 500 layers/h with a low-level infeed. Its two main basic modules are positioned next to each other. The transfer station accepts the waiting layer from the Robobox, and the loading station deposits it on the pallet. The Modulpal Pro 1AD does not use com- pressed air, is claimed to need no lubrication, and operates with fully automatic format change-over. www.krones.com