PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2016

PREFORM PRODUCTION 18 PET planet Insider Vol. 17 No. 11/16 www.petpla.net Preform dedusting boosts product safety at Gerolsteiner Gerolsteiner Brunnen GmbH & Co. KG boosts its product safety in the manufacture of PET containers with the help of a preform deduster from KHS. By cleaning its PET preforms the company cuts costs and improves quality in the pro- duction process. Any foreign bodies are gently and reliably removed prior to the stretch blow molding process. PET preforms can be soiled for a number of reasons. Sometimes particles such as PET dust or foreign bodies, including splinters of wood or fragments of PET, can enter preforms during production, transportation or storage. “If foreign bodies like these are detected during preform inspec- tion, the preform is rejected,” explains Marco Böhnke, product manager at KHS Corpoplast. Although the rejection rate for soiling of this kind is usually under half a percent, even this very slight amount is soon noticeable at a high production volume. A preform may only cost a few cents but by dedusting preforms and thus preventing unnec- essary rejections annual savings into five figures can be made. The min- eral water bottling plant in Gerolstein in Germany has now opted for this system. To save costs for preforms which would otherwise be lost, Gerolsteiner has placed a dedusting unit from KHS upstream of its inspection system. After six months in operation Dieter Kuhl, production manager for one-way containers at the bottling plant, is very pleased with the new extra. “We’re con- stantly working on improving the quality of our products. Further developments in inline quality control also help us here. We’re one step nearer to this goal with our dedusting unit and in addition we’re cutting our costs in the long term.” By using a compressed air lance specifically inserted into each preform the compact system removes unwanted particles at a rate of up to 81,000 pre- forms per hour. As a result not only are considerably fewer PET preforms lost; the risk posed by contaminated pre- forms is minimised further in combina- tion with an inspection unit. “KHS preform dedusting is a pru- dent addition to any quality assurance setup,” says Böhnke. The deduster is upstream of the stretch blow moulder and compactly integrated into the machine layout. The cleaning system is supported by an effective extraction unit which reliably ejects all parti- cles into an easy-to-clean collection vessel. The cleaning module has been designed so that it can be retro- fitted for all customers with InnoPET Blomax stretch blow moulders in series III and IV. Gerolsteiner Brunnen was founded in 1888 in the Volcanic Eifel, Germany. Gerolsteiner’s unique min- eral composition and its subsequent neutral and refreshing taste quickly made it a popular mineral water. Within a year, the mineral water was exported to the Benelux countries. Gerolsteiner was first shipped to the USA in 1890 and 1895 marked the start of international trade with Australia. More than 125 years after its foundation, Gerolsteiner is just as rooted in its home country and is even more widely enjoyed around the globe. The export to more than 35 countries, including the USA, Canada, Australia, Taiwan and the Benelux countries. Exports account for five percent of total turnover, which corresponds to sales of almost 31 million bottles. International trade focuses on Gerolsteiner Sparkling Mineral Water, which is available in both the opti- mised high-quality glass bottles, as well as in the light PET bottle. The sizes vary between 0.33l and 0.75l for glass and 0.5l, 1.0l and 1.5l for PET. Gerolsteiner Naturell and Apple Spritzer are also available in selected countries. These products are also available in the glass or PET bottle in different sizes. Due to the proximity, the range of products available in the Benelux countries is broader. www.khs.com www.gerolsteiner.de