PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2019

PACKAGING PET planet Insider Vol. 20 No. 10/19 www.petpla.net 18 The Clariant Team in front of the lab In the middle of the year (issue 06/16), French manufacturer Serac offered its new heating module for the selective heating of preforms in its Blow Linear machines. The module was designed to make the in-house SBL system series suitable for the manufacture of containers for home and personal care applications with special bottle shape and flexibil- ity requirements, using lightweight preforms. The SBL system was able to achieve up to 18,000 bottles with containers with a volume of up to 5 l. Non-food bottles moulded on Serac equipment In September (issue 09/16), we announced as a matter of “certainty” that Amcor had developed the first- ever liquid detergent bottle made from 100% recycled PET material for Method, the American “eco” detergent manufacturer. The challenges in the segment, which was dominated by HDPE, were the crystal clear transpar- ency of the bottle to flawlessly express the colour of the contents, a hand- friendly format, and a covered neck geometry, as the PP closure was origi- nally developed for HDPE bottle necks. Detergent bottle made from 100% rPET In the same issue (09/16), Tricor Braun’s US-based packaging experts solved the problem of a series of con- tainers for sealants, each with three dif- ferent chambers for different contents. The company developed a three-cham- ber PET and PP package for Prestone, a manufacturer of automotive chemi- cals, for which Tricor Braun was later presented with DuPont’s Silver Award. It was possible for each of the separate chambers of the series to be filled with two liquid chemicals in the container body and solid pellets in the overcap cover. The main container was made of PET, with a filling volume of roughly 530ml. Inside it was a separate PP con- tainer, with a capacity of nearly 90ml. Despite a tight development schedule, the complex product was launched onto the market in record time. Tricor Braun’s three-chamber contain- ers for Prestone A year later (issue 09/17), in the “Products” category, we reported on Adidas’ collaboration with German packaging manufacturer Gizeh PET. The occasion was the launch of a new premium series of shoe care products from the sportswear manufacturer. In addition to the medically-inspired look of the brown 100ml and 200ml con- tainers, they were also designed to reflect the concept of sustainability, so that Gizeh opted for the use of 100% rPET during the development. Adidas shoe care developed by Gizeh PET In the summer of 2018 (issue 07+08), an interview was published with Liquiform, a business unit of US company Amcor, in Michigan, which had succeeded in bypassing the blow moulding process during bottle shap- ing and to shape the preform directly with the final contents. The first prod- uct to be shaped using this technique made its way onto the shelves at the beginning of 2018: a liquid soap from the brand “Nature’s Promise”, which was created in partnership with co-packer Greenblendz, also from Michigan. The PET bottle with dosing system had a filling volume of approximately 355ml, and contained 50% rPET. In addition to the omission of a complete process step and the associated energy and space sav- ings in the factory, the technology also achieved a more detailed, finer resolu- tion structure for graphic and texture applications on the container surface in tests, compared with conventionally shaped PET containers. Container formed with Liquiform technology One magazine issue later (issue 09/18), we addressed Sarl Amir 2000’s acquisition of a KHS InnoPET Blowmax Series IV. The Algerian com- pany manufactured cleaning agents for home use, with a sales volume of 21,000 t of cleaning products in 2017 (see photo on page 19). The background for the investment was a planned expansion into additional countries in Africa, with the generation of higher capacities. The KHS system was designed for up to 12,000 bph, with both a round and oval design, using preferential heating technology. In the same issue, “People Against Dirty” presented plans for new pack- aging for their detergents in HDPE bottles from European brand Ecover. Together with developers R&D Lever- age, a series of transparent washing- up liquid bottles made of 100% rPET was developed in six months. The