MOSCOW (MRC) -- Beverage packaging equipment supplier Sidel (Le Havre/France) has developed a PET bottle base for still drinks, which is says is stronger, lighter and cheaper to produce, said Plasteurope.
The 'StarLite' base, which is particularly suited to water and juices, uses two proprietary PET designs: the 'Edge Beam', a groove structure that improves stiffness, and the 'Smart Disc' that reinforces the base to prevent deformation.
Sidel says the base can be retrofitted into existing bottle designs and shapes and into production lines using its 'StarLite' mould bases. All of Sidel’s blowing platforms and output speeds can use the new design, including its 'Matrix' system for liquid packaging, and regular, ultra clean, and aseptic filling solutions.
Tests carried out by Sidel’s packaging experts demonstrated a 30% increase in top-load dent resistance on pallets and up to a 55% enhancement in side-load resistance. The bottle also lasted up to 25 days without deformation in temperatures of 50°, and saw up to a 50% drop in base rollout under frozen conditions. Increased lightweighting possibilities, aided by the base’s compatibility with nitrogen drop technology, and lower blowing pressure also led to significant cost savings.
Vincent Le Guen, Sidel’s vice president for packaging & tooling, notes: “The new base enables you to both reduce package weight and blowing pressure, and actually increase base resistance to deformation."
As MRC wrote before, Olympos Dairy turned to Sidel to design and install a new bottling line at its facility in Brasov. The installation of the Ultra Clean production line has enabled the company to create a niche within the Romanian food market: Extended Shelf Life milk. The product has a 45-day shelf life; a 50% improvement on the existing product.
Sidel is a manufacturing company providing packaging for liquids such as water; carbonated and non-carbonated soft drinks; and sensitive beverages like milk, liquid dairy products, juices, nectars, tea, coffee and isotonics; as well as edible oil, beer and other alcoholic beverages. Sidel manufacturers and services equipment that enables other companies to package such liquids using one of three main materials: plastic (especially PET, and also HDPE and PP).
MRC