Marketing director for food and beverage at Ecolab EMEA, Marcus Ley, said the bottle washing treatment process, launched at Brau Beviale last week, can provide cost savings of up to 11 per cent, and he told BeverageDaily.com that this figure was borne out by a case study with a leading German beverage manufacturer.
There are, he continued, three pillars to the new programme, with energy savings through temperature reduction in the bottle washer and reduced exposure to caustic concentration as primary objective, followed by water savings through the dry lubricant based process optimization the aim of the second pillar, and the goal of the third part of the Bottleguard process being the extension of a returnable bottle’s serviceable life via a refinishing coating.
In terms of the energy efficiency gains for drink makers Ley explained: "The special cleaning additives by Ecolab can ensure a significant lowering of the cleaning temperature - by up to 12 degrees - plus a reduction by over 1 per cent in the caustic concentration which in total allows for energy savings of around 11 per cent."
He said that the first phase of the process also enables water savings due to the fact that there is significant reduction of rinsing water required.
Conveyor lubrication, stressed Ley, is critical for a more effective bottling process, and the cleaning, maintenance and sanitizing product supplier's DryExx range can be used, he said, for contact-free lubrication dosing for all material combinations. The optimal coefficient of friction values reduces the mechanical wear on both the bottle and the chain to an absolute minimum, added Ley.
Water savings are in the region of 85 to 100 per cent using this approach, claims the marketing director. He argues that hygienic conveyor conditions are still guaranteed despite the reduced water quantities at and under the conveyor.
With the look of the bottle paramount for branding in the beverage sector, Ley said that the company's Scufex can be employed in the third pillar of the BottleGuard progamme and that this coating reduces investment costs for drink makers by masking signs of wear, with no residue in bottle cleaning and waste water. "It does not affect labelling conditions either," said Ley.