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Filling PET aseptically at 200/min

With a prototype system in one plant and generation two in another, this Italian food company likes what it sees in rotary, aseptic filling of teas and sports drinks in PET.

Inside the first sterile chamber of the rotary aseptic system, bottles are sterilized with a spray of oxonia
Inside the first sterile chamber of the rotary aseptic system, bottles are sterilized with a spray of oxonia

Aseptic filling of food and beverages into bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate is just beginning to gain a toe-hold in the U.S. In Europe, however, where installations are more numerous, the talk centers on improving these aseptic filling technologies.

A leader in aseptic "envelope-pushing" is Boschi Luigi & Figli of Felegara, Italy. Tomatoes are BLF's core business. Between the Felegara plant and another BLF plant in Fontanellato, the company processes 350ꯠ tons of tomatoes during the tomato season.

A key strategy over the past decade has been to broaden the company's product lines so that the two plants can be more efficiently utilized beyond the 40-day period when the tomato crop comes in. Fruit juices and teas have been added, some in cans, some in glass, some in aseptic brick packs. Virtually all are packed under well-known brands, including Lipton and Parmalat.

With consumers showing more and more interest in PET bottles, BLF launched hot-filled teas and juices in PET in 1994. But according to Franco Scaramuzza, plant director of BLF's Felegara facility, "We found the heat-set bottle too expensive." Scaramuzza says while a 1/2-L hot-fill PET bottle weighs 40 g, the same-size bottle BLF now fills aseptically weighs just 23 g. With PET resin prices at an all-time high in 1994, BLF got to thinking about lighter, more cost-effective alternatives.

One such alternative was brought to BLF by the food equipment manufacturer Rossi & Catelli of Parma, Italy, whose engineers were working on a prototype system for aseptic filling of PET bottles. "They approached us to see if we were interested," says Scaramuzza. Not long after, this rotary-style prototype machine was installed at BLF's Fontanellato plant. Today it's used for aseptically packaging teas into 11/2-L PET bottles with 28-mm threaded polypropylene closures. Shelf life on tea products is 12 to 18 months, while juices and sports drinks achieve six months.

On to the next generation

Following BLF's experience with the prototype aseptic PET system, says Scaramuzza, "We were asked if we'd like to install a second line, this time in our Felegara plant."

The timing couldn't have been better. BLF had just lost some private-label packing business from beverage marketers who wanted their product in 500-mL PET bottles, but didn't want to pay the upcharge for a heat-set bottle. A BLF competitor with a newly installed aseptic PET system won this business.

The system proposed for BLF's Felegara plant, unlike the dedicated 11/2-L system at Fontanellato, could fill 1/2-L as well as 11/2-L bottles. So management agreed to install the new system. It went into commercial production in March 1998.

By this time, Tetra Pak Plastic Packaging (Geneva, Switzerland) had become the worldwide distributor of the Rossi & Catelli-designed rotary aseptic PET filler. In fact, it was Tetra Pak that was responsible for selling, installing and servicing the new rotary system at BLF's Felegara plant. Tetra Pak not only installed the filler/capper system, it also designed and integrated the upstream and downstream equipment needed to make a completely automated packaging line capable of operating at 200/min. The turnkey responsibility was attractive, says Scaramuzza. "They even provide the preforms," he points out.

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