PETpla.net Insider 09 / 2014

BOTTLING / FILLING 23 PET planet insider Vol. 15 15,000 1.5l bph; up to that time, Pfan- ner had contracted-out the filling of smaller numbers of PET packages. Demand for PET grew so that, in 2011, Pfanner installed a second Krones bottling line, rated at 13,500 1.5l bph, at its Enns plant. This was a PET-Asept L, a wet-aseptic line with peracetic acid as the sterilisation medium. This monobloc is suitable for filling still, low-acid beverages with a guaranteed germ reduction of log 5. Pfanner now fills all its still fruit-juice- based beverages in 1.5l PET bottles on this line. In 2013/2014 Pfanner boldly ventured where it had never gone before, by taking the leap to decontaminating the preforms, rather than the blow-moulded containers. This itself was a first for the sector but, in addition, the machine incorporates a new filling valve that can also handle carbon- ated beverages. The company replaced its existing rinser- filler monobloc and Conti- form blow-moulder (linked by means of air conveyors) which dated from 2003, with a Conti- form Bloc with Contipure. The new preform infeed is now located directly at the Contiform Bloc, which com- prises a heater module, the Contipure preform-decontami- nation unit (using H 2 O 2 ), a con- ventional Contiform S8 blow- moulder module, an isolator with base cooling, an aseptic Volumetic filler with capper, and a height-adjustable dis- charge conveyor, which was incorporated in order to match different container sizes. This technology enables high-acid beverages (with pH-values smaller than 4.5) such as ice teas, juices and squashes, as well as carbonated spritzer drinks to be filled aseptically with a decontamination rate larger than log 4. In the Contipure process, both the outside and the inside of the hot preforms are simul- taneously sterilised with gase- ous hydrogen peroxide: an H2O2-air mixture is injected The biggest drying system for plastic materials ever installed in the world, 6,000 kg/h PET. www.moretto.com Drying Revolution designed by Moretto STAND 3208 HALL B3 into the preforms from above, through a central manifold, The preforms are located in a space with an H 2 O 2 atmosphere, which ensures that their external surfaces are also decontami- nated. As the preforms are treated downstream of the oven, re-contami- nation risk is reduced. The outstanding new feature in this system is the combination of Con- tipure preform decontamination and the use of a new filling valve, which is able to handle both still and carbon- ated beverages. The valve has a base that can be magnetically extended and retracted as required; when carbon- ated products are being filled, the base is extended and pressed against the bottle’s neck finish. With still bever- ages, in contrast, it is retracted, thus keeping the valve at a distance from the bottle and ensuring full-jet filling for the still products. “There used to be general agree- ment that aseptics were only suitable for still beverages. An aseptic line fill-