Apr 10 2006
How do you reduce energy cost and increase production rate without compromising the appearance of your PET bottles? Eastman Chemical Company, the world’s largest supplier of PET resins for packaging, announces the first generation of Vorcalor PET CB01S for bottled water and carbonated soft drinks.
Vorcalor PET is the only PET on the market that combines consistent and improved reheat performance with exceptional optical clarity and colour stability. Vorcalor PET contains proprietary infrared absorbing additives that shorten the reheat time in the blow molding process, speeding plant output and reducing energy consumption in the blowing process by up to 25 percent. Manufactured in San Roque (Spain), Vorcalor PET's main market is Spain, Portugal, Maghreb (North Africa) and the South of France.
"Using reheat additives often means choosing between production efficiency and product clarity," says Ruben Vieyra, market development manager Iberia, Eastman. “With Vorcalor, our customers do not have to make this trade-off. They get the benefit of reduced energy costs and productivity enhancements without sacrificing product quality."
Vorcalor 's heat absorption additives reduce the level of preheat needed before blowing bottle preforms, which is especially important when preforms have been stored in a cold warehouse. The faster reheat rate allows for higher throughput rates and/or reduced energy needs, increasing the overall plant productivity. Vorcalor also improves blow molding consistency, which allows the reduction of preform weight, downgauging bottle wall thickness. Vorcalor features also an exceptionally wide operating window in injection molding with shorter cooling time, less risk of crystallization and ease of demolding.
“Vorcalor offers optimal polymer properties such as toughness, natural stretch ratio and creep," says Vieyra. “All qualities that make Vorcalor PET an ideal choice for carbonated as well as still soft drinks and mineral water."
Consistency in beverage flavor and the appearance of bottles is critical to maintain customer loyalty. High heat during the melting process has a tendency to create acetaldehyde (AA) that can leach into beverages, creating an off taste which may affect brand value. Because Vorcalor requires less heat in the melting process, there is inherently less AA and haze in the preform and final bottle.
“The Hispania region is one of the major soft drink markets in Europe and in this context key for PET containers," says Vieyra. “Because Vorcalor is locally produced, Eastman is able to ensure a reliable, high quality and consistent supply to meet growing market needs in the region."
http://www.eastman.com