The Swiss company Sursee recently purchased an aseptic filling line from Krones. The line was named "PET sterile line" for the filling of fruit juice drinks, carbonated juices, non-carbonated juices and tea drinks.
Seven months after the order was placed, the "PET sterile line" was officially put into operation. The line can fill 33cL to 2L PET bottles with 28- or 38-mm diameter bottle necks. The injection/stretch blowing system is supplied by Resilux Schweiz and the caps are from Alpla and Bericap. The minimum shelf life of fruit juice products is 6 months, and carbonated drinks are 1 year.
Special aseptic design enhances product safety
Aseptic wire packaging disinfection machine, bottle washing machine, filling machine and capping machine. Also included is the Krones Checkmat system (which detects the cap quality, filling capacity), liquid nitrogen filling, ultra-high temperature disinfecting water unit, ventilation and exhaust system, water vapor device, storage, dosing, automatic defoaming device , reverse osmosis water treatment system and cap feeding system. Krones system and the company's existing instant sterilizer, CIP system with very understanding.
"Ambitious" upgrade
“At the end of 2002, we decided to purchase the PET aseptic production line from Krones instead of the aseptic bottling line at the time,†said plant manager Dr. Norbert Bühler. “We evaluated the market for aseptic equipment, and the time It was so compact that we finally decided to choose Krones, believing that they could meet our needs."
Choosing Krones to complete the upgrade was a very ambitious plan. He recalled, “We plan to start production before July 25th. We believe we can achieve it. Of course, we also recognize the existence of difficulties. We hope to use semi-sterile. The model is filled with carbonated beverages, and the juice drinks are in aseptic mode. Bottle neck diameter is a little bit troublesome, while beverage syrups are expected to use 1L bottles. The syrup uses a lid and uses ultraviolet sterilization.â€
The production line replaced by the new PET sterile line was used in another company's factory. This old production line "is very suitable for carbonated beverage filling, but we are not very satisfied with its performance on fruit juice drinks and tea drinks," Bühler said.
"The problem is, these products aren't always 100% sterilized," he recalls. "We sometimes have problems with fermentation, lactic acid bacteria, etc. The device was installed in 1996. Aseptic filling technology was not available at that time." It is so advanced now."
Sterile area
The new filling line runs 5 days a week and the production plan for this year is 30 million bottles. Bühler said that the line can fill 33- and 50-cL bottles at speeds up to 300 bottles per minute, 1-L bottles to 233 bottles per minute, 1.5-L bottles to 167 bottles per minute, and 2-L to 100 bottles per minute. minute.
The bottle catcher and the star wheel of the system transport the bottles, followed by disinfection, washing, filling, and capping.
Outside the aseptic zone there are various mechanical, electronic and pneumatic devices. A two-layer filtration device and excess weight prevent bacteria from entering the sterile zone as the bottle enters.
The factory's new filling line can operate continuously for 72 hours and then undergo various cleanings including alkaline sprays, external alkali sprays, and peracetic acid sprays. Every four hours, more economical chemical cleaning will also be carried out.
System process
After the bottles enter the sterile area, they are sent to a sterilizing device. Peracetic acid will clean the outside of the bottle and the system does not reverse the bottle after it is completed. The disinfection device minimizes the use of water and chemicals and saves the factory cost.
The bottles were then cleaned with Krones' so-called "jet" system, using sterile air and water. Just like the sterilizer, the bottle washer also uses a water-saving design.
After the bottle washing step, the bottle was fed into a 60-head capacity flow filling system. The back pressure method is used for carbonated beverages, and non-contact filling is used for fruit drinks. As long as you slightly adjust the system, you can complete the conversion between the two modes. In order to reduce the amount of oxygen at the top of fruit juice beverages and tea beverage bottles, the factory uses a liquid nitrogen filling method.
Caps are soaked in sterile water and disinfected with air. The screw conveyor feeds the cap into the capper and completes the capping process. 28-mm and 39-mm bottlenecks Because the cap size needs to be adjusted, the operator is required to replace the machine parts.
Specially designed sealing machine
According to Krones, the plant is the first company in the world to install a new capping machine. Krones has patented the aseptic design of the capping machine and resets the cam to improve the level of sterility and food safety. Krones reduces the number of parts on the top of the bottle, thereby reducing bacterial contamination that can occur during filling.
For most capping machines, the capping device and the driver are desirably installed on the upper part of the bottle body. Usually, when the bottle body passes the capping machine, the capping device seals the opened bottle body. This will increase the possibility of bacterial contamination to some extent.
Mr. Bühler said: "The designer of Krones can be said to be a genius. I think this design avoids the possibility of pollution."
After filling, the existing Krones gluing labeler will complete the labeling of the bottle and then enter the packaging downstream and distribution points.
Advantage
When asked about the advantages of this aseptic filling system, Mr. Bühler said that the biggest improvement is that “We have achieved 100% aseptic safety requirements. We will not encounter any problems with the sanitation of our products.â€
"Speed ​​is not a problem," Mr Bühler said, but he also pointed out, "We are very satisfied with the efficiency of the system. It is about one-third faster than the promise we have received."
Bühler also pointed out that labor savings is another significant advantage of the system. “The system has not experienced major failures since its operation, and its product quality is very stable.â€
The new system is also good for the environment. First, manufacturers can achieve the goal of saving water. Bühler explained, “We use ultra-high temperature water for reverse osmosis treatment. For juice and some tea drinks, we also use disinfectant liquid nitrogen. Before the bottle is sealed, the system will add a drop of disinfectant liquid nitrogen.†This drop of liquid nitrogen Can expand inside the bottle and produce ambient air at the mouth of the bottle.
The cleanroom area of ​​the PET aseptic system is very small. For the factory, it can save a certain amount of space.
The entire turnkey project left a deep impression on Bühler. “There are many production lines that can use aseptic cold filling to fill fruit juices, but these lines do not handle carbonated drinks. Our new line can handle both drinks. This is what Krones brought us. Cutting-edge technology."