Industry challenges of speed, flexibility, reduced energy consumption and factory footprint were tackled by KKT Chillers, SIPA and AmbaFlex, whom I visited on the opening day of BrauBeviale.
While innovations in sugar reduction and flavour enhancement were high on the list of activities for Celanese and Wild.
In Hall 7a, KKT Chillers pointed out to me its Compact-Line completely redeveloped chiller for post PET blowing that not only offers an attractive design and reduced footprint, but also higher efficiency and lower energy consumption.
“The Micro Channel heat exchanger we have used inside the chiller used to be used in the automotive industry and it has helped us to create such a small piece of equipment,” Frank Burkel, project manager explained. “This model is far more efficient than previous models and needs less refrigerant and less energy.”
AmbaFlex was promoting its single lane SpiralVeyor Bottlelift that can move bottles at a rate of 60m per minute with one single lane, while SIPA was introducing its brand new Flowtronic W – weight filling system.
Roberta Gualtieri, marketing manager, Sipa, shows off the new PET bottle designed for Amarula liqueur of South Africa.
“Our Flowtronic platform allows companies to chose the right solution for their application, the configuration depends on the product,” said Matteo Tagliaferri, marketing and communcation, SIPA filling and packaging division, who explained that the new Flowtronic W has been designed to provide a higher precision filling than traditional volumetric systems for high value products such as milk, drinking yogurts and juices. “We have also seen that companies need the flexibility to fill different products on the same line, and although the entire line can be adjusted to suit a specific individual product, the Flowtronic filler itself uses the same valve for handling CSD, hot fill and still products. We call it the multi-product valve. This allows companies to fill multiple different products on the same filler.”
Tagliaferri also stressed that SIPA is able to offer turnkey solutions thanks to its expertise in bottle design, filling technology right through to palletising, and introduced me to Roberta Gualtieri, marketing manager, SIPA plastic packaging systems. Among other innovations in design and lightweigting, Gualtieri showed me the novel elephant PET bottle created for Amarula liqueur in South Africa.
On to tasting of beverages at the Celanese stand where the Qorus sweetening system incorporating acesulfame K, Sucralose and modifiers (which can be flavours or other masking or enhancing agents) was demonstrated to great effect in sugar filled versus reduced sugar and no sugar Colas, as well as Radler-style beers with soft drink combos.
“These cocktails of alcohol and soft drinks contain hidden sugars that are not necessary and Qorus can help beverage manufacturers provide lower sugar versions that are equally enjoyable and great products,” said Peter Roepers, technical manager Europe, specialty food ingredients, Celanese.
Supplied as a single solution, the Qorus sweetening offering provides a multitude of benefits to formulators in terms of simplicity, reduced handling, greater productivity and price advantages as well as sustainability and product consistency.
After a few other stops, I sat for a while with PR, Nicole Kroell on the Wild stand where I supped on numerous beverages containing stevia, including a delicious fermented lime drink, plus some novel flavoured beer mixes with citrus, lime & ginger, or strawberry-margarita and 2% alcohol. All very mouth tingling and thought provoking.
More details will follow post show. Now off to discover more….
Claire Rowan is group technical editor, magazines, FoodBev Media. This is a personal blog and views expressed are her own.
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