PETpla.net Insider 01+02 / 2015

BOTTLING / FILLING 31 PET planet insider Vol. 16 No. 01+02/15 www.petpla.net straight to the point and said that we wanted to buy it. It wasn’t until later that we asked about the price and examined the InnoPET Plasmax in practical operation.” It is interest- ing to note the enthusiasm of the consumers, who learned of this new technology from TV commercials, was so great that many of them have already asked why Doganay doesn’t consider filling water in the Campet bottle as well. Thus, a decision was recently made to launch still water filled in the GlasPET bottle to the market and to purchase a water bottling plant near Istanbul. “We will be starting operations there in 2015 and then also begin exporting in this segment starting in 2016,” Rafet Doganay elaborates. “We are reck- oning with sales of approximately 300 million water bottles by as early as 2015.” Innosept Asbofill ABF 711 FS The next station in the line for the coated PET bottles is the Innosept Asbofill ABF 711. Gökhan Doganay says, “This is an excellent machine that enables us to bottle our Limonata completely free of preservatives. With the help of this aseptic system we are able to reliably ensure a long shelf life of products filled in GlasPET bottles.” “It is especially important that the natural taste and flavor of each bottled beverage are retained, as well as the vitamins,” Remzi Doganay adds. The sterile product is stored in an upstream aseptic buffer tank from where sufficient amounts are sup- plied to the linear machine through a sterile valve manifold connection. This product connection to the linear filler ensures a safe supply of product free of recontamination. A multi-strand CIP system makes sure that the sterile tank, the sterile process engineering equipment, and the linear filler are properly sanitized at the end of pro- duction. The product preparation and system cleaning facilities were also supplied by KHS. Ten plastic bottles are placed in each cell support bar of the Innosept Asbofill ABF 711, which holds them by their neck rings and guides them through all processing stages of the machine. Only the bottle necks are contained inside the particularly small 1.5-m 3 sterile zone of the Innosept Asbofill ABF 711. Sterilization of bottle exteriors is therefore not necessary. Sterile air is blown permanently into the aseptic zone area and discharged downward by what is known as a positive displacement current via a perforated plate which separates off the aseptic zone. From there it enters the machine room where it is specifi- cally extracted. Dry sterilization is used for interior sterilization. This process involves injecting H 2 O 2 aerosol into each of the plastic bottles through a lance that ends just below the bottle neck. The aerosol is distributed evenly throughout all areas so that even the ribbed areas of the Limonata bot- tles are reliably reached. The system is excellently suited for sterilizing all bottle sizes and shapes. Even embossed and square bottles and bottles with very structured surfaces are reliably sterilized. “All options for new bottle designs remain open for us in the future,” Remzi Doganay comments. To ensure the greatest possible safety, the H 2 O 2 aerosol is injected into bottles in cycles each in two stations. The displaced gas is able to escape past the lance located in the center of the bottle. Two further cycles are necessary to allow the sterilant to take effect. The bottles dry free of residue after four cycles. A partition separates the area where drying takes place from the actual sterilization process. Another parti- tion is located between the drying and filling processes. The bottles are filled by two-stage, free-flow filling valves. The advantage: maximum aseptic safety, as there is absolutely no contact between the bottle and the filling valve during the filling process. Using the volumetric filling process by means of electromagnetic induc- tive flow metering ensures exact fill volumes. The filling and capping processes are also separated by another parti- tion through which the bottles pass after filling. The caps, like the bottles, are sterilized with H 2 O 2 aerosol which An Innosept Asbofill ABF 711 is in operation in each of the two linear aseptic lines.