(Beer, wine, ciders, CSD’s, water & syrup)
There are numerous advantages (both environmental and economic) that encourage breweries to choose non-returnable PET kegs instead of conventional metal containers, as there are clear benefits to all those involved in each stage of the supply chain, from the brewery itself to the final customer.
As to begin with, the brewery saves money by investing less in kegs due to the fact that it does not need to plan and maintain that large an inventory of kegs to meet seasonal peaks or fluctuations in its demand.
Furthermore, the use of disposable PET kegs simplifies the management of all stages of the supply chain. Retailers can benefit from the use of containers with a reduced weight (approximately 10 kg less per PET keg depending on their size). They offer great ease of handling and transportation as well as the advantage of being able to immediate dispose of empty kegs with its consequent reduction of storage space requirements.
Their reduced weight makes the beer transportation more cost-efficient, ensuring higher beverage content per kilogram being transported.
On the other hand, by avoiding the need for a return trip after the containers have been emptied, the use of disposable PET kegs has a significant (and positive) impact on the environment, saving costs in transport, reducing the use of fuel and energy and thus the carbon dioxide emissions released into the atmosphere.
PET kegs can provide either active or passive protection against gases (oxygen and carbon dioxide), or include additives to protect the contents from UV light. During transportation, kegs are often exposed to temperatures of up to 40 degrees or higher, which accelerates its oxidation and deterioration. However, PET kegs featuring oxygen barrier technology can successfully avoid the changes in taste and keep it stable for much longer.
PET Packaging Network in partnership with CYPET Technologies offers a flexible alternative that allows sretch blow-molding kegs of varying capacities in the same Injection Stretch Blow Molding (ISBM) machine as shown in the image at the top of this post.
CYPET Technologies is the only manufacturer of ISBM machines globally with the ability of producing such large PET containers with a capacity of up to 50 liters or even more.
Currently, the company is in development of a project for an Australian customer to manufacture beer kegs of 30 and 50 liters in size. For this purpose the customer acquires a CYPET K38 machine, able to work with a range of containers between 0.35 and 60 liters. If, however, the possibility of manufacturing larger capacity kegs were to be considered a higher machine model such as the K53 (from 0.5 to 100 liter capacity) should be the one most suited for that project.
As for the specifications of these kegs, dimensions and weight depend heavily on its design. In this particular case, the project for Australia implies a weight of 700 grams for the 50 liter design and 450 grams for the 30 liters design.
Nonetheless, it is important to bear in mind that in addition to the ISBM keg that forms the central part, two extra molded parts are needed (top and bottom) which provide better stability, the ability to stack containers and even handles for ease of transport. CYPET Technologies, when developing such containers provides customerwith support to design these extra parts for a proper fit with the kegs being produced in their machines.
PET Packaging Network maintains a synergistic alliance with CYPET Technologies, which allows us to provide all of their ISBM equipment catalogue for blowing PET kegs. In addition to this, we can also provide the necessary equipment for the injection of the additional parts that CYPET machinery does not manufactures.
