PET beer packaging is still concerned by the market

Although PET is not used in beer packaging as quickly as expected to enter the beer market in large quantities, PET bottles for beer packaging are still the goal pursued by various manufacturers. At the 2004 China International Beer and Beverage Packaging Technology Exhibition, relevant manufacturers have launched PET beer packaging with different barrier structures, which has become the focus of attention of the audience.

Multilayer beer bottles

Zhuhai Zhongfu is the largest manufacturer of PET bottles in China. Its PET beer bottles use a multi-layered composite structure. PET is used for the inner and outer layers, and EVOH or nylon is used for the barrier layer, which can achieve the 180-day shelf life required for beer packaging. Zhuhai Zhongfu demonstrated the anatomy of its multi-layer PET bottle on site. Since the PET bottle is used once, it can avoid problems such as recycling, cleaning and fragility in the breweries. Considering the costs of equipment investment and labor, the cost of PET is not high. In recent years, the domestic beer packaging market has grown rapidly. . According to reports, Zhongfu's high-barrier PET beer packaging has been used in some domestic breweries, some of which are used to export beer packaging.

Plasma coating technology

The coating structure can be divided into inner coating and outer coating. For the understanding of the coating structure, different manufacturers have their own ideas. The inner wall coating of SIG Corpoplast is made of PICVD plasma coating technology. The coating has good adhesion with the PET wall. Under the premise of ensuring the barrier performance, the barrier layer also has excellent flexibility for filling and transportation. Damage that may occur due to crushing, impact, etc. during use. The inner wall coating technology can avoid the external mechanical damage of the coating, and at the same time, the barrier property can be avoided, and the added components in the beverage or the beer can also be prevented from seeping into the bottle wall and affecting the taste.

Some manufacturers also believe that the inner coating structure may cause the barrier layer to break or fall off due to extrusion or the like and affect the taste. Therefore, they tend to use the outer coating structure.

Single-layer PET beer packaging

Invista introduced its newly developed PolyShieldTM gas barrier PET blend resin for the first time. The product has been approved by the relevant food packaging laws and can be directly used for beer packaging. This accreditation includes Germany and other EU countries. PolyShieldTM has been tested experimentally at several European breweries, demonstrating that its breakthrough technology allows single-layer PET beer bottles to have a shelf life of 120 days or more. Particularly prominent is its active oxygen barrier technology, according to reports, oxygen barrier performance can reach more than a year. In addition, beer bottles made with PolyShieldTM have excellent transparency. Excellent bottle wall transparency results from an innovative compatibilizer technology that allows the barrier material particles within the PET preform to be smaller, thus achieving a special transparency effect.

Compared with the above technologies, the common blending barrier technology has not been recognized by everyone. Different manufacturers believe that the barrier effect of the blending technology is not good, and the development of multilayer composites, coating technologies, and special technologies has become more The focus of attention. The emergence of new technologies does not mean that the market is mature. From the current general situation of beer PET packaging, it is still in a small trial period. There is still a long way to go before PET beer packaging really needs to be used in large areas.