Aseptic Cold Filling Production Line

PE Aseptic Cold-filling Production Line Technical Description

 

1. Overview:

1.1 Our company has independently developed a PET Aseptic Cold-filling Production Line base on advanced technology of similar foreign products. Aseptic Cold-filling Production Line adopts aseptic isolation technology to ensure the asepsis of filling materials, packaging environment and packaging containers. Sterilize the bottle and cap by immersion in disinfectant to ensure the asepsis of the packaging container. Clean and sterilize the internal and external surfaces of the equipment by Cop and SOP; Adopt sterile air to maintain the positive pressure of the filling environment, achieving a 100-level clean environment. Clean and sterilize the material pipeline by CIP and SIP to ensure the materials sterilized by UHT are not polluted, so as to achieve the final products are commercially sterile.

2. Features:

2.1 Use PROFIBUS bus control technology to realize the communication and the whole line control among single machines. The on-line display of the whole line operation status and fault alarm greatly improves the automatic control level and reduces the possibility of human mis-operation.

2.2 Use modular design to combine the bottle blowing machine, empty bottle sterilization machine, empty bottle cleaning machine, filling machine and capping machine into one system.

(1) Assemble into a five-in-one system. Seal the empty bottle sterilization machine, empty bottle cleaning machine, filling machine and capping machine with isolation cover.

(2)The empty bottle sterilization machine uses disinfectant medium in the processes of internal washing, external washing and drain off.

(3) The bottle washing machine adopts sterile water in processes of internal washing, external washing and drain off.

(4) The non-contact filling valve effectively prevent the secondary pollution.

(5)Use electromagnetic flow meter to measure the filling volume, with high measurement accuracy and convenient adjustment.

(6) Equipped with automatic fake bottle mechanism to automatically load fake bottles during CIP cleaning and SIP sterilization.

(7) Adopt magnetic constant torque screw capping head to ensure the qualification rate of screw capping.

(8) Set with centralized automatic lubrication system.

(9) CIP and SIP operations are automatically controlled.

(10) The interior of pipes and valves in contact with raw materials shall be hygienic standards.

3. Whole Line Parameters

3.1  rated capacity (500ml)

3.2  single machine efficiency: ≥ 96%

3.3  filling accuracy: ± 1.5%

3.4  bottle loss: ≤ 0.2 ‰

3.5 cap loss: ≤ 0.2 ‰

3.6 qualified rate of capping: ≥ 99.95%

3.7 cap opening torque: 1.5-2.8N · m (national standard value is 0.6-2.8)

3.8 bacterial contamination rate of finished products ≤ 0.1 ‰

3.9 shutdown cleaning interval during continuous production: 72 hours (no small cleaning), neutral products.

4. Process Flow:

4.1 The bottle blowing machine blows out empty bottles. Empty bottles sent to aseptic filling combination machine by wheel kicking device. PET bottles are sprayed and sterilized by the disinfectant in bottle washing machine, and sent to the bottle washing machine to rinse out the disinfectant remaining on the inner and outer surfaces of the bottles with sterile water. Bottles drained off and get into the filling machine for partial filling. Then use multiple channels of sterile water to wash off the residual materials on the bottle mouth and threads. Filled bottles enter the capping machine for capping, then sent out by conveyor belt. Bottled products will pass through automatic labeling, code spraying, automatic packing and stacking. In the end, the finished product will be sent to warehouse.

4.2 The bottle caps pass through cap conveyor, cap tidying machine and sterile water washing machine, and dried with sterile air, then get into capping machine.

4.3 Aseptic water system, aseptic air filtration device, disinfectant preparation system, steam filtration device and CIP / SIP system are necessary peripheral equipment for aseptic filling.

4.4The key to PET bottle aseptic filling is how to realize the aseptic treatment of filling materials, production environment (filling equipment, filling environment) and packaging materials (empty bottles, bottle caps) in the filling process, so as to ensure that the final products are commercially sterilization.

5. Asepsis of filling materials:Aseptic filling adopts Ultra high temperature instantaneous sterilization (UHT) technology. The dissolved syrup, pectin, ingredients, fruit juice, etc. are prepared and mixed in the mixing tank and sent to UHT for sterilization by the transfer pump. The sterilized materials are sterilized at 130-140 ℃for 5-30 seconds according to different materials sterilization temperature requirements. The sterilized materials is cooled under 25 ℃through the cooling section and sent to aseptic combined machines system. The materials need to be degassed before sterilization. Generally, the degassing temperature is controlled between 55-70 degrees and the degassing pressure is - 0.7 ~ -0.5bar.

Clean room standard: achieve sterility under dynamic conditions, and the positive pressure in the isolation hood reaches 10 to 20Pa; After adopting this technology, the time of continuous production without external cleaning of the filling machine can reach more than 72 hours, which not only ensures the sterile filling environment, but also reduces the operation cost.

6. Asepsis of filling environment:Use unique FFU aseptic isolation technology in combined machines system to ensure the asepsis of the filling environment. This technology minimizes the sterile space, with air supply unit and ultra-high efficiency filter and the organic combination of isolation cover and machine body. It puts sterility in the first place, which is different from the theory of pressure difference in clean area. It can reach level 100 under static state.

7. Sterilization of empty PET bottles:Our company adopts effective disinfectant spraying method to carry out special and effective sterilization according to the characteristics of bottle thread and bottle bottom structure. The disinfectant is usually peracetic acid of a certain temperature and concentration.

8. Sterilization of bottle cap:Sterilization of bottle caps is very important in aseptic filling. Our company still adopts the traditional soaking method for complete sterilization. The cap tidying machine is placed in the class-10000 clean room and adopts mechanical rotation to prevent compressed air from bringing bacteria into the class-10000 clean room. Caps are soaked for sterilization for a certain time, and washed by sterile water, then dried with sterile compressed air. Caps are sent to the capping machine through the fully closed conveying slide, where maintains cleanliness of class-100 and positive pressure state. The disinfectant is usually peracetic acid of a certain temperature and concentration.

9. Equipment Disinfection (SOP):The external sterilization of the filling equipment ensure that no external bacteria will be brought into the product during the filling process.For external sterilization (SOP) of filling equipment, our company adopts a unique disinfectant and hot water sterilization process, which saves the sterilization cost on the premise of ensuring the sterilization effect.

【SOP external sterilization process parameters】

External sterilization time of bottle washing machine	20min
External sterilization time of filling machine	20min
Sterilization time of cap sterilizer	10min

 

10. Cleaning (CIP) and sterilization (SIP) of the parts in contact with materials inside the filling equipment

This production line is equipped with an automatic CIP internal cleaning system. If the production is resumed several hours after the production is stopped, the acid, alkali and water cleaning (CIP) must be carried out on the material channels such as material pipeline and filling valve immediately after the production is stopped to ensure the cleanness of material channels. The material channel shall be steam sterilized firstly to ensure the sterile environment of the material channel when production resuming.

【CIP and SIP process parameters】

CIP	Water Washing	10min	60℃
	Alkali Washing	20min	85℃	1-3% (concentration)
	Water Washing	10min	60℃
	Acid Washing	15min	75℃	1-3% (concentration)
	Water Washing	10min	60℃
SIP	Steam	20min	130℃
	Water Cooling		70℃

 

11. Sterilization of Other Auxiliary Systems:In order to ensure the aseptic state during production, the sterilization of various auxiliary systems is also very important, preventing bacteria from being brought into the product through these systems. Such as aseptic tank system, aseptic water pipeline, aseptic air pipeline, etc. In the design of filling equipment, we fully consider every possible pollution point to ensure that the filling process is realized under reliable sterile conditions.

12. Aseptic Cold-filling Combined Machine Unit:

12.1 The unit is composed of disinfectant bottle washing machine, sterile water bottle washing machine, filling machine and capping machine.

12.2 The bottles blown out by the bottle blowing machine are transferred into the disinfectant bottle washing machine through the star wheel. Bottles firstly are turned over 180 °in the disinfectant bottle washing machine, and are sprayed on the inner and outer by peracetic acid disinfectant for a certain time, then drip off for a certain time. The bottles are turned over 180 °again and sent to the sterile water bottle washing machine by the star wheel.

12.3 The structure principle of sterile water bottle washing machine and disinfectant bottle washing machine is similar, and the differ is one uses sterile water while the other uses peracetic acid as the spraying medium. Aseptic water bottle washing machine adopts two-time bottle washing process, which has better washing effect and more water saving than continuous bottle washing.

12.4 Bottles are sent to the filling machine through the star wheel after being washed and dripped off. All filling machines adopt non-contact filling valves to prevent cross contamination through the filling valves. The aseptic filling valve adopts the volume measurement method of electromagnetic flowmeter. Each filling valve is equipped with one automatic false cup. And the false cup together with filling valve form a cleaning and disinfection circuit to feed pipe and return pipe during internal cleaning and disinfection. In order to ensure sufficient sterility, steam barriers are set on both sides of the dynamic seal in filling machine central pipe material channel to prevent bacteria from entering the material pipeline. A disinfectant water seal tank is set between the rotating parts of the filling machine and the outer cover to prevent the external atmosphere from entering the isolation room. A bottle detection device is installed beside the bottle inlet star wheel of the filling machine to realize the action of no filling without bottle. Bottles’ mouth is washed after filling. Then bottles will be sent to the capping machine through the star wheel.

12.5 Only the capping head part of the capping machine is in the clean room, and the other transmission parts are arranged outside the clean room. A water seal tank is arranged between the rotating part of the capping machine and the isolation cover to prevent the external atmosphere from entering the isolation chamber. The capping machine is equipped with a capping stop cylinder to realize no capping if there is no bottle; It is equipped with a cap missing detection sensor, which automatically stops the machine when there is no cap. The screwed product is transferred from the star wheel kicking device to the conveyor belt and sent out. (The capping machine is driven by a single motor)

12.6 The bottle transfer star wheel of the combined machine clamps the bottleneck to transfer bottles. All star-wheel bottle clamps do not need to be replaced if the bottleneck size is the same when changing the bottle type.

Technical Parameters:

Product Model	1300908A
Capacity	15000bph (based on 500ml bottle)
Module Ratio	Disinfection 80; Bottle Washing 55; Filling 35; Seal 10
Overall Dimension	L * W * h 11650*9250*4500
Total Weight	26500kg
Applicable Cap Type	Plastic Security Cap φ 26～45mm
Applicable Bottle Type	Diameter φ 50～95mm； Height 140 ~ 320mm; Capacity 260 ~ 2000ml
Filling Temperature	≤ 15-25 ℃, except for special products.
Applicable Beverage Type	tea drinks, fruit juice, water, milk beverage, yogurt, etc. (neutral and acidic products)
Sterilization Ability	≥6D
Residual disinfection liquid in bottle	≤0.5mg/L
Asepsis cycle	72 hours (depending on the product)
Filling Precision	±1.5%
Sealing qualification rate	≥99.99%
Main Machine Power	21.6kw

 

Main Machine Configuration

No.	Name	Brand	Place of Origin
1	air cleaner	AAF or equivalent	U.S.A
2	PLC	Siemens or equivalent	Germany
3	Safety switch	AB or equivalent	U.S.A
4	Frequency Converter	Danfoss or equivalent	Denmark
5	electromagnetic flowmeter	Cologne or equivalent	Germany
6	Low voltage electrical components	Schneider or equivalent	France
7	Motor	Sima or equivalent	Xi'an
8	sliding bearing	Igus or equivalent	Germany
9	Reducer	Jiepai or equivalent	Hangzhou
10	Detection switch	IFM or equivalent	Germany
11	Sealing element	Hansheng or equivalent	Taiwan
12	Sealing element	Starline or equivalent	Hong Kong
13	injector	Keliying or equivalent	China
14	Pneumatic diaphragm valve	Gemue or equivalent	Germany
15	Pneumatic components	SMC or equivalent	Japan
16	Sanitary fittings	Yuanan or equivalent	Shanghai
17	Bearings	NSK or equivalent	Japan
18	Sanitary pump	INOXPA or equivalent	Spain
19	Aseptic valve	APV or equivalent	Germany

 

13. Immersion Cap Sterilization Unit

13.1 Function Description:The main machine is designed and improved for many times base on the advanced technology of similar equipment in domestic and overseas. The machine has four stages including spiral immersion disinfection with peracetic acid warm water, cap turnover, sterile water spray cleaning and sterile air drying. This bottle cap sterilizer is designed in strict accordance with the disinfection and sterilization process. The bottle cap takes the spraying and flushing of disinfectant as the driving force, and fully considers the impact of external factors on the sterilization environment, so as to ensure the operation and process indicators of this equipment, and ensure the production requirements and quality in good condition. The sterilization time can be adjusted according to the process requirements. It is equipped with the cap tidying device designed and produced by our company, adapting to various production types in different scales. Use PLC program centralized control the whole system, the disinfection, spray cleaning and drying. The temperature, spray pressure and level height of the disinfection liquid are strictly controlled to ensure sufficient sterilization, save the circulation amount of the disinfection liquid at the same time, and reduce the loss as much as possible. The fan-shaped nozzle is made under American technology. The frame is made of SUS304 stainless steel. The equipment is stable and reliable, beautiful and clean. Particularly, the new design on the seal greatly reduces the leakage of peracetic acid gas and greatly improves the working environment; Internal circulation is adopted in disinfection and cleaning to reduce energy loss.

13.2 Main Features:

(1) The immersion disinfection method is completer and more reliable than that of the traditional linear cap disinfection machine. Adopts involute track to prolong the sterilization process, make the cap transferring smoother and more natural, and occupy less space reasonably.

(2) Put the cap upward for completely immersion during sterilizing and soaking; The unique 180-degree turnover makes the cap mouth downward, which is very conducive to the drain off of bottle cap.

(3) Add two lines on both sides of the spray flushing pipe to make the sterilization liquid wash and sterilize more completely, and reduce the operation cost for users on replacing the nozzle when using the nozzle flushing.

(4) The nozzle is manufactured by American technology and washed by aseptic compressed air, which not only can provide the power for cap transportation, but also ensure a more complete flushing and drying of the whole cap, and even more effectively reduce the residue of liquid.

The main frame is made of high-quality stainless steel and the top cover is made of high-quality tempered glass, so that users can view the sterilization and movement process of the cap in the cap sterilizer at any time.

(5) The adoption of double fork tuning-fork type liquid level controller makes the control of liquid level height more stable and accurate. It is simple and elegant in the overall appearance, which is greatly improved compared with the ordinary electrode liquid level gauge.

(6) The cap hooking type blocking device at the cap feeding position is more reliable and has longer service life than the ordinary cylinder cap blocking method, so as to reduce the cost of replacing the cylinder for users.

(7) The disinfectant immersion cap sterilizer has higher requirements for bottle caps compare with that for traditional straight-line sterilizer. It has certain requirements for temperature resistance and immersion resistance of bottle caps.

Technical Parameter

Effective disinfection area	0.82m2
The effective length of disinfectant soaking section	5.8m
Aseptic water flushing length	0.9m
Aseptic air-drying length	0.42m
Sterilization time of disinfectant	30s
Aseptic water spraying time	5.3s
Aseptic air-drying time	2.4s
Cap specification	38 caps
Disinfectant temperature	60～65℃
Overall Dimension	2800×1100×890（mm）
Total power of equipment	0.25KW
Theoretical weight	About 500kg

14. Cap Tidying Unit

14.1 Equipment Description:

(1) The main body of the machine is made of SUS304 stainless steel, with exquisite appearance and durability.

(2) The mesh belt guiding and fixing device of this cap tidying machine is an exclusive patented design of our company. The contact area between the mesh belt edge and the pressing plate is large, the mesh belt runs smoothly and stably, effectively preventing the mesh belt from jumping. High output rate of caps. High speed and reliable performance.

(3) The slideway adopts patented design, with side plate made of SUS304 stainless, and the main body is made of φ 5 SUS 304 round stainless steel. Reduce the travel resistance of the cap and eliminate the jamming and squeezing. The slideway is designed with a fixed reinforcing plate to improve its rigidity, not easy to deform, and an adjustable device is added to better fit different sizes of the cap.

(4) All contact parts of the machine with the cap are made of ultra-high molecular polyethylene and nylon soft materials to effectively prevent the cap from being scratched.

(5) The machine is highly smart and equipped with multi-point detection device to ensure the timely shutdown of the main machine under situations of no cap, cap block, cap jamming etc.

(6) The power-part motor adopts frequency conversion control technology, and the control action is accurate.

(7) Main Features:

a. Organic transparent glass that installed on the front of the cap tidying machine helps to observed the operation condition (whether the spoon falls off) during normal production. Know well about the working principle and make maintenance more convenient.

b. The convex part and the chain mesh of the lifting chain mesh in the cap tidying machine are injected molding of one-piece, so the convex part is not easy to fall off, making the cap lifting more stable.