ASEPTIC FILLING

About five miles from the famous Fran-corchamps F1 racing circuit is thetown of Spa in south east Belgium.

Spa is the home town of three natural mineralwater springs that have brought it celebritystatus since 1912.

The independent SpadelGroup, which is owned by aBelgian family, has been pro-ducing and selling naturalmineral water, spring waters

and soft drinks from thislocation since 1980, sup-plying the Beneluxregion along withFrance and the UK.The company’s strategyfocuses on the develop-ment of strong regionalbrands and high-qualityproducts.

The group has devel-oped a regional leader-ship position with theSpa and Bru brands inBenelux, France and inWales. It has five produc-tion sites in Europe: twoin Belgium, two in Franceand one in Wales. Today,the Spadel Groupemploys 747 with 80 percent of them in Belgium.Sales excluding excisetaxes in 2015 increased4.7 per cent year-on-year to €242m ($279m)with volumes of 605m

litres up 5 per cent. If Spadel is best known internationally for

its natural mineral water brands, closer tohome it has garnered a strong reputation forseveral other assets. Environmental awarenessis one of these, with the company claiming aleading position in the protection of naturalresources and a robust sustainable strategythat has been implemented over several decades.Not surprisingly, Spadel was voted in the top 10European sustainable businesses in 2014 among17,000 companies, according to the prestigiousEuropean Business Awards.

Spadel also has a proven track record ininnovation. In 1971 it was the first natural min-eral water producer to bottle water in PVC,before becoming the first to move to PET in1988. It was also one of the first to blow PETpreforms in-house and to pack water in cans.Since 1998, PET preforms are produced withan increasing share of food-grade recycled PET.

Today, as trends towards healthier drinks

progress, the Spadel management felt the needto bridge the gap and invest in an asepticbottling line to target beverages with 100 percent natural ingredients.

A major investment of €17.5 million ($20.2m)was made this year, consisting of a Kronesaseptic filler, Gebo Cermex conveyors andOCME tray-packers.

This aseptic line will allow complete isolationof the bottling process after beverage pasteuri-sation and packaging sterilisation. The dryaseptic process uses hydrogen peroxide tosterilise closures and preforms, hence the PETbottles.

The Synchrobloc Contipure Krones line com-prises a full line-up of equipment: A Contiform320 stretch-blow moulder followed by an interiorpreform cleaning system, a preform inspector, a

Out with the old, in with the new One of Belgium’s major soft drinks producers has recently started an aseptic bottling line for the development of a new generationof drinks using natural ingredientsin PET bottles. Dominique Huretreports from Spa

Above: The company's new aseptic line was openedrecently by officials including Spadel's chief executiveMarc du Bois (on left in orange jacket)Left and below left: Spadel moved its iconic mineralwater brands into PET in 1988

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preform feed unit, a PET inspector, an asepticfiller, a full bottle inspection machine and a con-tainer conveyor with a linear rejection unit.

In detailCentral to the new line is the Contiform 320high-speed stretch-blow moulder, which workson a two-stage principle and is equipped with20 blowing stations. It is used for the productionof plastics bottles up to 3-litres.

The linear oven for heating the preformscontains a number of modules designed tomatch the individual requirements, while thehigh machine output is reached by virtue of therobust design of the blowing wheel, the newhigh-capacity blowing units and the servo-con-trolled transfer starwheels. In addition, themachine is equipped with a Contipure module,in which the preforms are sterilised with hydro-gen peroxide. This module is integrated betweenthe linear oven and the blowing module.

At the other end of the line is the PETInspector. This PET-VIEW 776 D is installed in

sThe line includes Gebo Cermex conveyors

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ASEPTIC FILLING

the discharge of the stretch-blow moulder forthe inspection of PET containers. The DARTtechnology (Distributed Architecture for RealTime) is applied for analysis and operation isperformed by using the touch-screen of the leadmachine. The modular design allows differentexpansion levels. Faulty containers are rejectedwithin the machine.

Other than with Krones, Spadel has alsodeveloped partnerships with selected OEMsthat comprises a high-pressure compressor, atilting device, a container code/dating unit, anuninterruptible power supply and finally anelectrical power distributor.

On the utilities side, other investments alsohad to be made.

Speaking to Plastics in Packaging, technicaldirector Michel Diricq, said: “Firstly, a high-tech boiler was needed to go up to 9-bar in orderto produce vapour at 180 deg C and to evaporatethe hydrogen, because the local network onlygoes up to 5-bar. In addition to cleaningaseptically the various tanks and other equip-ment, food-grade vapour was also required. Asecond boiler was installed to produce 100 percent clean vapour. Of course, this one only usesSpa mineral water as input.”

All-in-all, the water-use balance plays infavour of the aseptic process. The previousprocess of ambient bottling required far morewater for rinsing.

Thanks to this aseptic process, no preserva-tives or artificial colourants will be used in anyof the Spa soft drinks. Since 2012, the Spa

Citron was already 100 per cent natural andclear but now so is the whole range followingthe same track. For the moment, the asepticline bottles fizzy soft drinks but in six months itwill be fully operational for highly sensitive stilldrinks.

Spa Monopole’s plant director Vincent Mazyadded: “In the field, the scope of technologychanges has taken a massive number of adjust-ments: The aseptic line takes a space of2,000sqm. Its specific handling required 8,000-10,000 hours of training both in the factory andon suppliers’ premises for the 70 operators.Today, two operator shifts are handling thetransition but by the summer the line shouldwork at its full-rated speed.”

Line capacity for 50cl to 1.25-litre bottles is40,000bph. Product changeover takes about 30minutes while sanitation and sterilisationrequires up to six hours, which explains whythey are often carried out during the night shift.Product changeovers are scheduled from the

most sensitive drinks to the least, for instancefrom apple to lemon ‘lemonade’.

“But above this great technology, it is theenthusiasm of our teams for the whole projectand for this new generation of products that isthrilling to witness,” added Mazy.

For Marc du Bois, Spadel’s chief executive,soft drinks with 100 per cent natural ingredientswill enable the company to continue to grow inthe market segment.

“The message of fully organic carried bySpadel’s different brands resonate increasinglywell with consumers more attentive to theirhealth,” he explained. “These new lemonadeswill allow the Spa brand to occupy a uniqueposition in the soft drinks market in theBenelux. The new aseptic line installed at SpaMonopole will also stimulate further innovationsin our drinks based on mineral water.”

More information from Spa Monopole, Rue Auguste Laporte 34, B-4900 Spa, Belgium. Tel: 32 8779 4111. Email: spamonopole@spawater.com.Web: www.spadel.com

The container conveyor features a linear rejection unit

Above: The Krones Contiform monobloc concept features stretch-blow moulding and filling systems for PETbottles. Below: The aseptic line will expand into highly sensitive still drinks later this year

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