Adoption of coating delivers shelf life extension for sparkling water

Technology transfer of silicon dioxide coatings from beer to water reduce packaging weight and extend the shelf life of water in PET bottles

In Use – The coating equipment has been installed and water packaged in SiOx coated bottles are already available on the market.

Selected Filters (click to expand/collapse)

Benefits
Packaging Reduction, Shelf life extension

Product Categories
Drinks

Relevant Materials
Coatings/Inks, Plastic – rigid

Relevant Packaging Formats
Bottles and jars

Supply Chain Phase
Production

Details

A global water brand has begun using silicon dioxide (SiOx) coating technology to extend the shelf life of its 500ml sparkling water. This is the first time the technology has been applied to this sector, although it has been successfully proven in the beer industry for many years.

The coating, applied to the internal surface of the PET bottle, provides a better gas barrier and reduces carbonation loss, thereby extending shelf life whilst facilitating light weighting of the bottles with no change to bottle shape or colour.

To facilitate the change, the company has installed two coating machines within its 500ml bottle production lines. The coating machines will operate at a speed of 24,000 bottles per hour. The installations have been made at Nestle Waters San Pellegrino Terme Plant in Bergamo, Italy. The technology and coating supplier has not been named.

The content in this entry has been obtained from publicly available information sources only (e.g. press releases, website and trade press articles) and is subject to completion of a validation process with the technology supplier.

Potential Benefits

A bottle weight reduction of 17% has been achieved whilst delivering a 3 month shelf life extension.

Intellectual Property

This installation is specific to Nestle Waters. The specific technology and coating supplier has not been named.

Consultant View

Although the technology and coating supplier specific to this project has not been revealed, there are many providers of SiOx coatings. Readers interested in this technology approach should try searching the Internet for suppliers of silicon dioxide coating technology.

Also, there are other technologies which also serve to extend the shelf-life of beverages in PET bottles. For example, multilayer bottles incorporating barrier layers; closures incorporating oxygen scavengers, etc. Readers should try searching the REID database for alternative approaches. Relevant search term combinations could include “beverages” and “shelf life extension”.

Contacts and Further Information

Valeria Norreri, International Marketing Manager
Nestlé Waters France-Belgique
Service communication Corporate
4 avenue du maréchal juin
92364 Meudon-La-Forêt
FRANCE
Téléphone : +33 (0)1 41 23 38 00
Email Address: relazioni.esterne@waters.nestle.com