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04/19/2011

KHS introduces new generation of aseptic linear fillers

With its Innosept Asbofill ABF 611 and Innosept Asbofill ABF 711, KHS launches a new generation of aseptic linear fillers to the market that offers a comprehensive package of benefits.  These aseptic linear fillers process up to 12,000 plastic bottles per hour.  While the standard model, the Innosept Asbofill ABF 611 fills 0.1 to 0.75-liter plastic bottles, the Innosept Asbofill ABF 711 is designed to fill 0.25 to 2.1-liter plastic bottles.  Both are focused on filling non-carbonated beverages.  Whether milk, yogurt drinks, fruit juices, or fruit juice drinks, all are doable.  The Innosept Asbofill ABF 611 and the Innosept Asbofill ABF 711 are particularly suitable for filling pharmaceuticals, provided they are liquid products for enteral feeding or health drinks for example. Integrated neck handling ensures maximum flexibility when it comes to effortlessly processing specially shaped rectangular and square bottles, for instance.  One machine is able to fill either PET or HDPE bottles without conversion thereby opening up new avenues of offering a more diverse product range. The products are sterilized within the linear fillers according to the dry sterilization process.  The plastic bottles and closures are sprayed with H2O2 aerosol where it reacts on the surfaces and is then dried by hot air.  An enormous advantage is that all surfaces are sprayed evenly, regardless of the size and shape of the bottles being processed.  The result is maximum microbiological safety.  At the same time only a very small sterile area is needed.  The sterile zones set up for Innosept Asbofill filling machines are probably the world's smallest.  The Innosept Asbofill ABF 711 requires a sterile area measuring only 1.5 cubic meters or about 53 cubic feet, the Innosept Asbofill ABF 611 a sterile area measuring as little as 0.9 cubic meters or about 32 cubic feet.  The plastic bottles are conveyed through all the processing stages in just one holder.  Aseptic safety is further enhanced in that critical mechanical transfers are avoided, above all in the sterile zone. The filling process in the Innosept Asbofill ABF 611 and the Innosept Asbofill ABF 711 is carried out by two-stage free-flow filling valves.  This means the plastic bottles never come in contact with the filling valves during the filling process.  Volumetric filling of the plastic bottles by means of magnetic inductive flowmetering ensures exact fill levels.  Integrating pulp jets into the filling valves is a possible option.  Depending on the products to be filled, other useful options are nitrogen flushing before and flushing the head space of the plastic bottles with nitrogen after the filling process.  This treatment, which further reduces the amount of oxygen in a bottle, has obvious advantages, particularly for beverages that are sensitive to oxygen such as those containing vitamin C.  Another possible option - one that is unique for linear fillers - is placing a drop of liquid nitrogen in the head space of filled plastic bottles.  The main advantage of this method is that it displaces the oxygen in the bottle head space.  It also enhances the stability of particularly lightweight bottles.  This in turn means less plastic is required in the production of PET bottles.  The huge savings on materials additionally ensure short-term ROI. Like the other available options, such as the double-filter units in place of single-filter units in the valve manifolds and coding the plastic bottles during the production process, the options mentioned above can also be integrated into Innosept Asbofill machines later.  All this ensures an ideal safeguard for the future. When it comes to the capping process, the user can choose between aluminum seals for the plastic bottles or plastic screw-on caps.  The great advantage of aluminum seals is that this new generation of machines supplies the seals fully automatically right from the start.  Equally advantageous is the fact that once removed from the seal plate, the seals are immediately pressed and simultaneously sealed onto the plastic bottle.  Maximum aseptic safety is also the motto when processing the plastic screw-on caps or sport caps.  The two processes of placing the caps on the bottles and then screwing them tight are carried out in entirely separate sterile chambers.  The key advantage here is that the rotary capping motion, which usually entails greater risk in aseptic zone, takes place only within a separate sterile zone in which the bottles are as good as sealed. The 'twin concept' of the new generation, Innosept Asbofill ABF 611 and Innosept Asbofill ABF 711, is easily able to increase the capacity up to 24,000 bottles an hour.  Hence, the investment in two individual machines is offset by a clear reduction not only in cost, but also in the amount of space required.