DRINKTEC REVIEW PETplanet Insider Vol. 23 No. 12/22 www.petpla.net 28 State-of-the-art PET processing machinery Prepared for the future At Drinktec, Sipa demonstrated its expertise in PET processing know-how, from container engineering and design, preform injection, state-of-the-art blowing and filling systems, to sustainable solutions based on reducing the consumption of inputs and new fossil materials, as well as increasing the use of recyclates. Demonstrations and displays gave an insight into Sipa’s ability to deliver customised solutions with the flexibility to adapt to the rapidly changing market, across different technologies. Line integration, filling, sustainability, and digitalisation were the main focus areas on Sipa’s booth. Single- and two-stage technologies Sipa presented an SBM machine, an Xtra rotary system for the production of 100ml beverage containers. It can process 100% recycled PET with a total output of up to 65,000bph. A particular focus was given to a simple and fast mould changeover and to advanced controls, with Xtra HMI showing how easy it is the process set up, thanks to a Process Wizard. In its Xtra Big configuration, the Xtra rotary blow-moulding line can also produce containers up to 12 l and 48mm neck diameter. With an ECS SP80, a single-stage ISBM line, Sipa demonstrated how flexibly this machine can be used to produce a wide variety of containers. The ability to respond to rapidly changing customer and market demands is now more important than ever, especially given the current significant shortage in the availability of glass bottles, Sipa explained. Mould making for bottles and preforms Sipa develops and produces high-performance hot runner injection moulds with high cavity numbers. On display was a 180-cavity mould optimised for a high production rate of preforms. Sipa says this is important for the future to respond to customer requests for design changes resulting from changing regulatory requirements for bottle closures, which are likely to affect the design of bottle necks. Videos showed two new systems for keeping injection moulds clean when processing recycled PET: Xactive-Cleaning for hot halves and Xvacuum-Cleaning for cold halves. These systems have been developed by Sipa to avoid the accumulation of dust, which is mainly generated during the processing of rPET. New PET bottle designs At Drinktec, Sipa has presented for the first time a new premium bottle for HoReCA markets. Nothing strange about that, but this water is different. It’s a bottle that was conceived, designed, tested and produced inhouse by Sipa, then taken to an independent Sipa customer where it was filled and capped on Sipa equipment, given a label designed by Sipa, and then palletised with Sipa machinery. Sipa calls the product Bella. Bella, beautiful in Italian, signifies a new and progressive way of understanding packaging design and development. The project demonstrated how Sipa can partner with any customer, in all phases of a premium packaging project, from the original idea to design of the bottle and the preform best suited to make it; a bottle that catches the eye of the consumer with its elegant shape and beautiful label. Also the closure was purpose-designed by Sipa. PET bottle for sparkling wine A wine producer buying glass bottles today could easily pay 30% more than last year. The wine sector accounts for about 45% of the market for glass bottles, which until recently had seen a rapid increase - currently over 5 million tonnes, up from 4 million tonnes in 2016, worth over €2.4 billion. It is likely that sparkling wine producers paid much more for their bottles last year than they will in 2020. Just in time, Sipa has introduced its first PET bottle for sparkling wine. The company’s packaging team has developed a product that is a replacement for conventional glass bottles and can be used on existing bottling lines. An essential part of the Sipa design is the neck of the bottle, which looks like the glass bottle version, i.e. it adopts the classic mushroomshaped cork with its metal cage. The base also looks like the original. The design provides a top-load resistance of 3,500N. The PET bottles have already been tested on glass installations and have proven to be perfectly interchangeable with the glass versions. Sparkling wine consumers will enjoy the same experience with the new containers as they always have, from uncorking to pouring. They may notice that the PET versions are lighter at just 90 g (glass bottle Bella, the new premium PET bottle; design by Sipa
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