Beverage line hat-trick

South American beverage maker Postobón has a portfolio of not only water and soft drinks but also juice, teas, energy drinks, beer and coffee. In its role as contract filler, the company also bottles Pepsi, Gatorade, Mountain Dew and Seven Up, for example, plus Lipton Tea and Heineken beers. Of its 71 facilities, 20 are production sites that accommodate more than 100 filling lines, 20 of which are used for PET bottles.

Whereas in the past Postobón worked with KHS to supply stretch blow moulders, in 2018 the bottler opted for its first block system from Dortmund.

The first line used includes an InnoPET TriBlock for water in plastic containers that comprises a stretch blow moulder, labeller and filler. At a maximum capacity of 54,000 bottles per hour, the line provides good neck handling from the preform to the bottled product. With help from KHS’s Bottles & Shapes program, a 600 mL bottle was developed that saves on material and weighs no more than 10 g. One particularly attribute in the dry section of the line is the multifuel burner on the Innopack Kisters SP that enables the shrink tunnel to be flexibly heated by either natural or propane gas.

The bottler was so pleased with the installation that it subsequently ordered two more block systems within the space of just 18 months.

The second KHS line is also a turnkey filling line where a BloFill duo block for the hot ­filling (HotFill+) of juice, tea and energy drinks with optional nitrogen dosing forms the heart of the line.

Technically speaking, the HotFill+ line has a rate of 2250 x 0.5 L bottles per hour and station so it achieves an overall capacity of up to 54,000 containers per hour and is thus the fastest KHS line of its type. Thirteen products from three different categories are filled in eight formats holding between 200 mL and 1.5 L on the flexible line. A filling valve specially developed for the bottler can fill all beverages without the need for any format changeovers — regardless of whether these contain pulp or fruit fibres.

The third KHS line has a TriBlock for carbonated beverages such as Pepsi Cola. The line is built around an InnoPET TriBlock featuring a KHS roll-fed station for hot-melt wraparound labelling, also for a maximum of 54,000 bottles an hour. Formats range from 300, 400 and 600 mL through 1.0 and 1.5 L to the 2.5 L container.

The most recent project to come out of the two companies’ technological partnership is a new KHS InnoPET Blomax V stretch blow moulder. Integrated into an existing PET line by Postobón’s own converter Iberplast at the Caloto bottling plant, with its 20 cavities it can produce up to 45,000 bottles per hour in sizes ranging from 500 mL to one litre. On the line the containers are filled with beverages such as juice, tea and energy drinks at temperatures of up to 85°C.