Development of the hottest integrated plastic bott

The development of integrated plastic bottles

the plastic industry and the rapidly growing plastic bottle industry changed little in 2003. Although many relevant studies have been done on the key issues that hinder the development of plastic technology, there has also been a lot of discussion on the relationship between the interaction between plastic packaging and beverages and foods with a general requirement of 0.2 ~ 0.4 and cold, heat, disinfection, corrosion prevention and extended shelf life (ESL). However, when participating in the packaging exhibition, we can see that the most eye-catching is still machinery and equipment. Among them, there are many electromechanical integrated mechanical equipment used to put products into plastic bottles

the over extruded stopette deodorant packaging bottle, which was just used in the 1950s, has long been on the market. Few people may remember the fierce competition between HDPE milk bottles and glass bottle containers and pointed carton packaging when blow molding technology entered the market

one view is that carton packaging is flattened during transportation and folded upright during filling, which takes up less space. Plastic bottles occupy a large space, as does the transportation of empty bottles. Although glass bottles can be reused, they also need to occupy a lot of space. Therefore, one solution is to establish a packaging production line in or near the dairy. For a time, 40% of food cans were produced by food manufacturers

therefore, although the technology was still mature at that time, many plastic bottle extrusion blow molding machines had been installed all over the country. Blow molding equipment has a close relationship with bottle makers, because dairy farms need their expertise to ensure that a continuous flow of milk is bottled. Bottle suppliers such as consolidated container install and operate these devices

polyester bottles

from the 1970s to 1980s, polyester bottles produced for carbonated beverages have been used in many applications (such as packaging peanut oil, fruit juice, non aerated beverages, water, salad seasoning, etc.) and become one of the current mainstream packaging. Polyester containers need pressure injection processing. Before that, they must be carefully heated and stretched for blow molding. The whole process is much more complex than that of polyethylene extrusion and blow molding. In many years after that, except for a few venture capitalists who invested in the integrated production mode, most polyester bottles were produced in the off-line two-step production mode (injection molding and reheating blow molding), and then transferred to the filling line. The problem of large space occupation still exists. However, with the development of technology, bottle manufacturers are more and more interested in the way of producing polyester bottles

although some complex changes such as heating device (to meet the needs of hot filling), multi-layer structure (to improve barrier performance) will affect the production process. The polyester bottle production equipment with single-layer structure has been installed near the food or beverage packaging line. In most cases, special injection molding pretreatment is used first, and then they are transferred to the manufacturer for stretch blow molding, and then the processed bottles are transferred to the adjacent filling line. The speed of the whole process is very fast

integrated system for HDPE and polyester

in 2003, the bottle making industry mainly used two kinds of Plastics: high density polyethylene and polyester. In addition to the changes of multilayer structure or additional coating, some now also add active ingredients, such as deoxidizer. Due to economic or efficiency reasons, both online and offline bottle making equipment are now common. However, an integrated system is the trend in the future, with resin raw materials at the front end and bottle making production lines at the back end. And for ESL beverages with disinfection and freezing requirements, anti-corrosion and ultra purification treatment will be considered

it is generally believed that the integrated system can be divided into three components:

* requirements of microbial level. It is often necessary to disinfect when transporting beverage packages. At present, it is mainly strong acid drinks, because according to the relevant regulations of the United States, weak acid drinks are not widely used in commerce. In the process of transporting beverage packaging, the commonly used ESL method is to reduce the number of microorganisms, so that the frozen distribution time can be as long as 50~100 days

* plastic raw materials. Polyester material is transparent and strong, with good oxygen resistance. HDPE is translucent, relatively easy to form, and the waste can be recycled, but its oxygen resistance is poor

* source of bottle structure. Various structures are processed from resin raw materials in the system. The pretreated polyester structure is formed in the injection molding process, and then the finished product is produced near the packaging line

from resin to canning

the most advanced systems include blow molding, filling and sealing. At first, the thermoplastic tree is melted and then extruded through a mold. At present, the most advanced and considered to be the most reliable system is the botlepack blow molding, filling and sealing equipment produced by rommelag company in Germany, which enjoys independent intellectual property rights. Its melting temperature can achieve the purpose of disinfecting the inner wall of the bottle. All the equipment of rommelag company is used to produce HDPE bottles with single-layer structure, which are mainly used for the packaging of drugs and fruit flavored beverages. Since the bottle cap is integrated with the bottle, the opening of the bottle is disposable. The flexibility of this system is limited, and the size and shape of the mold are fixed. In addition, it was suggested that sterilization with the temperature of melting dry resin may not completely kill heat resistant pathogenic microorganisms

another system is the integrated system of injection blow molding, filling and sealing. Polyester is pre processed into tube shape, and then blow molded and filled. SIPA company in Italy produces this system, including pretreatment under the positive pressure of sterile air, extrusion molding, stretch blow molding, and finally transported to the sterile filling machine of procomac company in Italy for filling. The maximum production capacity of the system is 600 bottles per minute. There is a lot of installed capacity in Italy, which is mainly used for high acid drinks with a long shelf life at room temperature

sipa/procomac integrated system does not need to be disinfected after bottle production, because the intermediate process is reduced, so the cost is reduced. On the other hand, because it is an integrated system, if any part of it goes wrong, it will lead to a complete shutdown. In addition, the productivity of such equipment is determined by the device with the lowest or slowest efficiency, and the capital investment of integrated equipment is relatively high

from preformed HDPE to bottling

stork system in the Netherlands is a representative of processing methods from resin to bottling. The system first presses and blows out a closed single-layer bottle, and the extrusion temperature disinfects the inside of the bottle. The closed bottle mouth in the sterile environment is cut off (recycled and reused with resin), and the bottle with the upper opening is disinfected with hydrogen peroxide inside and outside. Under sterile conditions, the bottles are transferred to the sterile filling unit, which is mainly used for low acid beverages, such as coffee delivered under refrigerated ESL conditions

Elopak, a Swiss company, and techne, a manufacturer of extrusion and blow molding equipment, provide a series of HDPE bottle making systems for refrigerated ESL beverages. The system first makes the resin into sealed bottles for internal disinfection, and then transfers them to Elopak sterile filling equipment under sterile conditions. On this equipment, the sealing part is cut off, then filled, and finally sealed with a pre disinfected bottle cap

from preformed polyester to bottling

tetra Pak's side equipment and its brother company Remy of bottling equipment form a similar system. Side processed polyester bottles are disinfected with hydrogen peroxide before blowing with sterile air, and then transferred to Remy filling equipment under sterile conditions. Because the filling equipment has been pre disinfected and kept in a room with a cleanliness of 100

these systems are mainly used in the packaging of refrigerated ESL low acid beverages. Suppliers believe that they can also be used for high acid beverages with long shelf life at room temperature and high acid beverages stored in refrigerated ESL. The output of this system is 100-600 bottles/min. The advantages of the preform filling system are unified management, less total number of equipment, and no need to store bottles. According to the manufacturer, the productivity of this system can reach 90%

beyond the traditional

the microbial safety of these systems is very good, because they all disinfect the pre processed plastic bottles before filling, and adopt hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid, ultraviolet or combined sterilization methods, so that the indoor cleanliness reaches X00 level. Krones in Germany, SASIB in Italy, Shibuya kogyo in Japan, Bosch in Germany, EPSI in the United States, Tetra Pak in Sweden, KHS in Germany, ave, Elopak, Remy and other brands all provide basic rotating (or linear) purification and aseptic canning and sealing equipment. Therefore, good microbial safety can be achieved by cooperating with refrigerated ESL technology

whether HDPE bottles, polyester bottles or multi-layer containers, the production line either contains disinfection links, or is produced under purified or ultra purified conditions. In this way, coupled with the control of distribution conditions, the shelf life of products can be effectively extended

esl drinks are popular among consumers, and the experimental method is relatively simple. 1 and it has changed the face of the beverage market. The design of the integrated system benefits from the engineers' successful integration of Microbiology, biochemistry and packaging technology into consumer products beyond the traditional concept of sawing and milling, hot rolling, cold rolling, finishing and other processes

information source: Modern Packaging