PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2016

COMPRESSORS 20 PET planet insider Vol. 17 No. 05/16 www.petpla.net Piston compressor as “energy source” for bottling not-from-concentrate juice Air for expansion COMPRESSORS The focus was on energy efficiency and sustainable productivity during the plan- ning of a new site for the Gropper group of compa- nies. This site is used exclu- sively for the manufacture and bottling of high-quality not-from-concentrate fruit juice. The 40 bar com- pressed air for the PET blow-moulding machines is generated by a highly effi- cient piston compressor from Gardner Denver, which is optimally integrated into the processes at the new plant in Stockach, Germany. The Gropper group of compa- nies, based in Bissingen, Germany, processed approximately 290 million kilograms of milk (of which 50 million was biomilk) in 2015 in order to create a variety of milk products. Gropper employs around 700 people, buys milk from 870 suppliers and in the last fiscal year they achieved a turnover of approximately 400 million euros. The company is continually expanding and in the last few years they began to manufacture smoothies and not-from- concentrate fruit juices. And this has been a success: their annual production of these juices has already reached 80 million kilograms. To pave the way for further growth, Gropper opened a com- pletely new plant in Stockach, Germany in autumn 2015. This plant will focus solely on the production of not-from- concentrate juices, which require refrig- erated transport and storage. Multi-stage piston compressors As the new plant was built from scratch, those responsible were able to fully exploit all the potential of modern factory planning – an area in which they have a great deal of expertise. Berthold Burg- meier, Head of Technology: “Basi- cally, we plan and optimise our systems ourselves and efficiency, flexibility and economical energy consumption are extremely impor- tant to us.” For this reason, both the procurement costs and the life cycle costs are important when it comes to investments. This also applies in particular to the compressed air generation, which is required for the on-site supply for the PET bottle production. The preforms are blown up with a pressure of up to 40 bar and then filled. Those responsible for planning this system and associated periph- eral equipment at Gropper were able to draw on existing experience: four PET blow-moulding machines and bottling lines are already in use in Bissingen. Thus Gropper had no doubt that multi-stage piston com- pressors would be the most eco- nomic way to generate this pressure level. Bottling plant for not-from-concentrate juices at the new plant of the Gropper group of companies in Stockach Type WH 29 3N oil-free piston compres- sion with shaftless 325kW motor, direct drive and maximum volume flow of 1,800m 3 /h (at 40bar)