First Pasteurizeable PET Beer Bottle Due in China.

What is described as the world's first pasteurizeable barrier plastic beer bottle is due to be unveiled late this year in China. The blow molder is Zhong Fu in Zhuhai, and it plans to use multi-layer preforms made on coinjection equipment supplied by Kortec Inc., Beverly, Mass. The 400- and 500-cc bottles are to be used to contain a Chinese national brand of beer. The application could use as many as 100 million plastic bottles/yr.

The three-layer PET barrier bottles are able to withstand the 67 C (153 F) temperatures of tunnel pasteurization for beer. Until now, beer contained in plastic has typically been sterilized in bulk prior to bottling rather than in the bottle after filling. A heat-resistant bottle "means existing pasteurization equipment can be used without any modification," says Paul Swenson, president of Kortec.

The three-layer container has inner and outer skins of PET, with a core layer of a barrier resin--both nylon 6 and EVOH are approved--blended with an an oxygen scavenger. The structure is designed to provide a six-month shelf life.

Kortec is supplying a turnkey preform molding system based on a specially modified 300-ton injection press from Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd., Bolton, Ont. Kortec itself developed the 48-cavity, hot-runner coinjection mold. Coinjection is used partly because it minimizes delamination during pasteurization.