SIDEL
Joint success with beverage majors Refresco and PepsiCo in environment awards / Dry contamination technology saves on materials and energy usage
Beverage packaging equipment supplier Sidel (Le Havre / France; www.sidel.com), private label soft drink and fruit juices producer Refresco France (Saint Donat sur l’Herbasse) and PepsiCo France (Paris) have jointly been awarded first prize in the category of “efficient and clean technology” at the enterprise and environment awards, presented annually by the French Ecology Ministry and non-profit organisation Orée.
Sidel’s principal contribution to the “Prix entreprises et environnement” award was the installation of its latest dry-decontamination technology for bottling beverages – the “Combi Predis/Capdis FMa” – at Saint-Alban-Les-Eaux / France, a Refresco France plant where “Lipton Ice Tea” drinks are bottled for PepsiCo France. The system features advanced dry technology for decontaminating preforms (the “Predis”) and during bottle closure (the “Capdis”).
The “Predis” uses no water, very few chemicals and less energy as a result of the use of hydrogen peroxide as a disinfectant and the application of the decontamination process on the preform, which has a surface area that is 10 times smaller than its blown bottle, instead of on the bottle itself and during closure. This combination eliminates the risk of chemical residue and thus the need for sterile water rinsing. The award also embraces the ecological design of the bottles used by Refresco France, especially its choice of using 50% recycled PET.
As a result of these innovations, the Refresco France plant is now saving more than 1,700 t of CO2 equivalent, 38,000m3 of water, 2.5m kWh of energy and more than 400 t of virgin PET annually. Sterilant usage has also been reduced from 42 t of peracetic acid to 6.7 t of hydrogen peroxide each year.
Sidel’s principal contribution to the “Prix entreprises et environnement” award was the installation of its latest dry-decontamination technology for bottling beverages – the “Combi Predis/Capdis FMa” – at Saint-Alban-Les-Eaux / France, a Refresco France plant where “Lipton Ice Tea” drinks are bottled for PepsiCo France. The system features advanced dry technology for decontaminating preforms (the “Predis”) and during bottle closure (the “Capdis”).
The “Predis” uses no water, very few chemicals and less energy as a result of the use of hydrogen peroxide as a disinfectant and the application of the decontamination process on the preform, which has a surface area that is 10 times smaller than its blown bottle, instead of on the bottle itself and during closure. This combination eliminates the risk of chemical residue and thus the need for sterile water rinsing. The award also embraces the ecological design of the bottles used by Refresco France, especially its choice of using 50% recycled PET.
As a result of these innovations, the Refresco France plant is now saving more than 1,700 t of CO2 equivalent, 38,000m3 of water, 2.5m kWh of energy and more than 400 t of virgin PET annually. Sterilant usage has also been reduced from 42 t of peracetic acid to 6.7 t of hydrogen peroxide each year.
07.12.2011 Plasteurope.com [221007-0]
Published on 07.12.2011