PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2020

BOTTLING / FILLING PET planet Insider Vol. 21 No. 03/20 www.petpla.net 21 this method can be purged with ster- ile air. While this process is effective, it has limitations. In many countries it is impossible to control the initial bioburden of supplied preforms and caps and storage conditions can often be less than ideal. Dry sterilisa- tion provides no mechanical purging/ sterilisation effect; if there is a risk of particles in the preforms, PAA sterili- sation is better. “Some customers want to use H 2 O 2 because it reduces costs and is the latest tech- nology,” said Paolo. “But it’s not right for everyone and inappropriate use can lead to unexpected contamination during production.” Sterilising preforms requires an aseptic blower The concept of sterilising the preform prior to blowing the bottle with an aseptic blower was pioneered by GEA in 2010 and GEA is still the only company, as of today, that has obtained the FDA approval for aseptic blowing. In this process, hot preforms are sterilised inside and out simultaneously, using a flow of H 2 O 2 . The bottles are then blown within the sterile area and filled. Sterilising the preform reduces the amount of chem- ical necessary as the preform is smaller and more regularly shaped than a blown bottle. It reduces the weight of PET required for each bottle as there is no risk of shrink- age during treatment. This also allows manufacturers to experiment with innovative bottle designs but achieving peak levels of safety is still challenging. Electron beam tech- nology negates the use of chemicals The future may see the development of sterilisa- tion methods that elimi- nate the use of water and chemicals completely. Barbara said that GEA’s research and development of new products is always customer driven. There is a range of potential tech- nologies that have merit, including pulse light and electron beam technol- ogy, but they have been found to be impractical, so far. “Ultraviolet and pulse light treat- ment are very promising for PET bottle sterilisation and electron beams can be used for sterilising preforms but there are maintenance issues,” she said. “The costs are currently too high for commercial use.” Paolo agreed that electron beam technol- ogy is very good but also complex and expensive, and operators have to be carefully screened. “I don’t believe it’s possible to recover the cost of the machine through the reduced use of water and chemicals. Moreover, energy has a May 7 -13 Hall 13 | Booth A31 A S P E C I A L S E RV I C E F ROM 1WT $QVVNGU 5JCRGU RTQITCO RQQNU QWT WPKSWG YGCNVJ QH 2'6 GZRGTVKUG HQT [QWT DGPGƂV 9JGVJGT HQT VJG development of new PET bottles or the optimization of existing ones, we are here to help you right from the XGT[ UVCTV s HTQO FGUKIP VJTQWIJ GPIKPGGTKPI CPF VGUVKPI VQ VJG RGTHGEV UGEQPFCT[ RCEMCIKPI #PF QH EQWTUG YG CNYC[U DGCT KP OKPF VJG GHƂEKGPE[ QH [QWT EQORNGVG NKPG +PVGTGUVGF! MJU EQO DQVVNGU UJCRGU Your KHS Bottles & Shapes service provides you with support from the initial FGUKIP VQ VJG ƂPKUJGF RCEMCIGF DQVVNG STARTS WITH THE PERFECT DESIGN. BOTTLE PERFECT THE FOR YOUR LINE