PETpla.net Insider 01+02 / 2014

BOTTLING / FILLING 38 PET planet insider Vol. 15 No. 01+02/14 www.petpla.net Fresenius Conference: Bottling Sensitive Beverages Towards an effective sterilisation process Quality Management in the bottling of sensitive bever- ages means, among other things, ensuring high standards of hygiene. There are new developments and innovative approaches aplenty in a number of areas. Some of the most interesting issues within the industry were presented at the 11th Conference “Bottling Sensitive Beverages” at the Fresenius Academy on November 5 and 6, 2013 in Berlin, Germany. The presentations included such approaches as the Pulsed Light process and the 4-stage model for Coca Cola soft drinks. Pulsed Light technique for aseptic disinfection of screw closures Managing Director Christophe Riedel and Berthold Burgmeier, Tech- nical Manager of the Gropper Dairy, presented a joint pilot project. Pulsed Light technology is a dry sterilisa- tion process using high performance light pulses. Discharging a capaci- tor into an arc produced in a Xenon lamp generates a simultaneous high output flash (1MWatt) guaranteed to completely kill off all germs. The process can be used for continuous sterilisation of packaging, for example caps. One such project for maintain- ing aseptic conditions in caps has been initiated at the Gropper Dairy, who supported Claranor in develop- ing the concept of the fully sterilisable system. The system’s rotary and pivotal point is formed by a protected steri- lisation chamber which is designed like a cartridge. Within the chamber the closure caps for sterilisation move freely within a rail made from quartz tubes under vacuum. A sensor detects any change in pressure (known as the “Quartz Break“) and produces an alarm should any such occur. Two reflectors, which diffuse the pulsed light flash generated, ensure that the caps are sterilised both inside and out. For this it is necessary that the caps passing through should arrive in a continuous flow to ensure that they do not miss out on any part of the handling process. Each cap is blitzed twice alto- gether by a total of four lamps in the Pulsed Light line. Compared to steri- lisation procedures using hydrogen peroxide, Pulsed Light involves no mechanical movement during the ster- ilisation process. During production, no chemicals usage is necessary nor is there any need to prepare complex auxiliary media such as, for example, sterile air. Further advantages of the new process lie in the short contact time as well as the favourable pro- curement and operating costs which, with the same output, come out at around half as low as the hydrogen peroxide process.