PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2014

EDITOUR REPORT 15 PET bottles. Here too there are two filler combinations availa- ble – monoblock and triblock. In the majority of cases the cap- ping machine is equipped with a steam box for PET bottles which vaporises the inner compound and/or the sealing band. The Magic HF filler is based on electronic filling technology for still beverages. The fill point is very near to bottle headspace since in a secondary phase (through a tilting conveyor) the hot product sterilises the bottle neck and cap. To complete the line there are flash pasteurisers, cooling tunnel and tilting con- veyor, where the filled PET bottles are placed on an oscillating conveyor belt at an angle of up to 90°. Craft brewery Finally, we come to another interesting topic, namely craft breweries in USA. Craft beer is enjoying increasing popularity over there and as a consequence also in other markets. Craft beer is local beer, brewed in smaller breweries with fill capacities of usually not more than 10,000 to 15,000 bottles per hour. This trend is hitting the big breweries, and craft beer is increas- ing its market share. There are, at present, more than 2,000 craft breweries in the USA. “It is here”, says Ema- nuele Piva, “that we see our strengths; in the supply of an entire line from the malt right through to the filled and palletised beer bottle in glass or in cans. Unfortunately, PET plays a subordinate role in this, we supplied the last PET filler there in 2009, whereas glass and cans are growing exponentially. As regards the process technol- ogy for beer, we had a stroke of luck. An Italian brewery fitter,“Velo“ in Treviso, had ceased trading and we were able to take over key employees and thus secure the brewing know-how for CFT. We have already supplied our first complete craft brewery to “ Birra del Ducato“ not far from here near Parma and are gaining some initial experience and three more are also on the way to customers. We envis- age major growth potential with this product”, says Ema- nuele Piva. www.cft-group.com f.l.t.r.: Emanuele Piva, Beverage Sales Manager and Alexander Büchler, PETplanet in front of a can filler for beer. PET planet insider Vol. 15