KHS Group introduces PET bottle for oxygen-sensitive beverages
Key takeaways
- KHS Group has introduced the Supreme PET bottle, combining glass-like protection with the ease of PET.
- The bottle uses a transparent silicon oxide layer to protect tea and other beverages from oxidation.
- KHS has scaled up production to 60,000 bottles per hour, ensuring high barrier performance and recyclability.
KHS Group has unveiled the KHS Supreme PET bottle, a solution that utilizes the company’s Plasmax barrier technology and is designed to improve the protection of oxygen-sensitive beverages.
Based on the findings of its development study, KHS Group notes that with the bottle, the supplier is enhancing the product protection of tea and other oxygen-sensitive beverages.
Philipp Langhammer, product manager for barrier technology at KHS Group, says: “Our barrier system is ideal for premium products such as green tea that’s extremely quality-sensitive and has to satisfy the highest requirements on markets such as Asia. Our style of packaging combines all the benefits: top barrier performance and full recyclability.”
Technical precision
Tea oxidizes easily, causing unwanted changes in color and taste. To overcome the challenge, KHS has adopted its Plasmax barrier technology, a wafer-thin, transparent layer of silicon oxide that coats the inside wall of PET bottles like glass.
It is less than 100 nanometers thick and protects sensitive bottle content from oxidation, retaining its taste, color, and quality for lengthy periods of time. The technology is reported to extend the product’s lifespan by up to ten times.
The glass coating is recyclable and can be removed by caustic during the recycling process without affecting the quality of the material. The coating is also fully compatible with fully recycled PET, which means that it can be recycled and applied to recycled PET containers.
This year, KHS has scaled up its industrial production speeds for Plasmax barrier to 60,000 bottles per hour, without any detriment to its protective properties.
KHS Group will showcase the solution at Interpack in Düsseldorf, Germany (May 7–13).
