Comparison of traditional canning and aseptic packaging

While PET aseptic cold filling has not been developed for a long time, several of the world's leading beverage and brewing equipment manufacturers have more mature aseptic cold filling process. Filling process comparison. Traditional hot filling can be divided into two kinds, one is high temperature hot filling, one is medium temperature filling and then warm the product to 65 ℃ ~ 75 ℃ for pasteurization. These two ways do not need to sterilize the product, bottle and cap individually, only need to keep the product at a high temperature for a long enough time to sterilize the bottle and cap. Aseptic cold filling first requires the product, bottle and cap to be sterilized separately, and then the product is filled in an aseptic environment until it is completely sealed before leaving the aseptic environment. From the comparison of the two process flow chart, the biggest difference is that the beverage heat time is different. As we all know, the longer the heat treatment time, the greater the impact on the quality and taste of the beverage. Aseptic cold filling using UHT ultra-high temperature instantaneous sterilization, heat treatment time of the material is not more than 30 seconds, and in the case of high temperature can completely guarantee the sterilization effect, while the sterilization method used in hot filling so that the material for a long time in the state of high temperature, which seriously affects the taste of the product, the color and color, as well as the heat-sensitive nutrients (such as vitamins) content. In addition, from the point of view of the production line configuration, when the filling machine failure shutdown, the use of hot filling method of processing part of the material back to extend the heat time, which will seriously affect the quality of the whole batch of products, while the aseptic cold filling will not have this phenomenon occurs, the material has been instantaneously sterilized after the room temperature, placed in an aseptic cans will not affect the quality of its. Comparison of PET bottles used. From the above filling process can be seen, the two filling methods on the PET bottle requirements are different. Hot filling process requires PET bottles to be able to withstand high temperatures of 85 ° C to 92 ° C and unchanged, which requires an increase in the crystallinity of the PET material, while blowing the bottle to limit the generation of induced stress. The use of PET bottles have the following characteristics: bottle wall thickness, there are clear wall ribs to prevent heat shrinkage, the requirement of crystallization of the bottle mouth, etc., greatly restricting the freedom of bottle design. Aseptic cold filling can use lightweight bottles (maximum heat-resistant temperature of 60 ℃) and standard caps, which greatly reduces the cost of bottles and caps, but also the freedom to choose the design of the bottle type. Aseptic cold filling process technology features hot filling process, the beverage is kept at high temperatures for a longer period of time, the general bacteria and microorganisms will be killed, and also add preservatives, so that the beverage safety is higher. So, how does aseptic cold filling ensure beverage safety? The main thing is the establishment and guarantee of aseptic environment. Compared with hot filling, aseptic cold filling material sterilization is the use of UHT ultra-high temperature instantaneous sterilization, the material is subjected to heat for a short period of time, the loss of nutrients is very small, the quality and taste has not changed significantly. The latest aseptic cold filling process can be combined with pasteurization for cold chain production, so that the loss of nutrients caused by the material will be even lower, and under the conditions of the cold chain, product safety can be completely guaranteed. Sterilization of packaging materials is the most critical step in the aseptic cold filling production process. Due to the non-heat resistance of PET material, only chemical reagents can be used for sterilization, to ensure that bottles and caps are effectively sterilized, and the chemical reagents can not be allowed to affect the material, aseptic filling has taken the following measures: the original colony count of the initially blown bottles is required to be no more than 5cuf/bottle; the conveyor of bottles using aseptic air, there should be an air conveyor belt; the interior of bottles is sterilized using peracetic acid-based disinfectants (PAA) Sterilization, can achieve a high sterilization effect (up to 7log); at the same time the outside of the bottle disinfectant sterilization; disinfectant has an automatic recovery and concentration measurement system, to ensure that the concentration of disinfectant is stable; with aseptic water to rinse the residual disinfectant in the bottle, and then blow-drying with aseptic air to ensure that the residual disinfectant will not have an impact on the material; cap is generally used in the disinfectant-soaking sterilization, through the control of By controlling the soaking time, the sterilization effect can be well guaranteed. The main equipment of aseptic cold filling is required to meet the sanitary design, mainly in piping and valve technology, material surface planing, surface design of important areas, the choice of corrosion-resistant materials and other aspects of the advantages, but also with a complete fully automatic cleaning (CIP) system, sterilization (SIP) system, and the equipment outside the foam cleaning system (COP), in addition, the aseptic cold filling machine is designed with its own unique In addition, the aseptic cold filling machines are designed with their own unique aseptic filling valves, all these measures to ensure that the equipment will not give the material secondary contamination. Since PET bottles do not shrink after cold filling, there will be a portion of air between the material and the cap, in which the oxygen will slowly oxidize the material during the storage process, thus leading to the deterioration of the beverage. Therefore, aseptic cold filling equipment will add a set of nitrogen (or other inert gas) replacement system, the top of the air blown away to ensure that the material is not oxidized. The aseptic space environment is maintained, generally using purification room isolation measures. The main filling machine is designed for D100 level air purification room, outside there are 10,000 level purification room (some aseptic filling equipment does not need), through the purification room filtration system to ensure that the filling environment within the air cleanliness, so that the material will not be suspended in the air microbial secondary pollution. Neutral drinks can not be produced with hot filling process, because it uses the inverted bottle to sterilize the cap, high acid drinks can also inhibit the growth of microorganisms, while neutral drinks can not guarantee product safety, product defective rate is very high. If the hot filling process is used to produce neutral tea beverages, preservatives must be added. For aseptic cold filling, because the filling is carried out under aseptic conditions, its process adaptability is very strong, and can produce a wide range of product types, including neutral tea drinks, milk beverages and a variety of other beverages, only need to be adjusted to the pre-treatment equipment can change the product type. Operator factors, in the entire environmental system, the operator is the largest source of pollution, the design of air purification room in the purification of air at the same time, but also very good to reduce the pollution brought about by the personnel; operators in the 10,000 purification room, after the spray sterilization; 100 purification room design of small and practical, so that the operator does not destroy the aseptic environment of its operation; purification equipment can be automatically cleaned the interior surface and sterilization. Management factors. Beverage aseptic cold filling technology content is very high, need to have a high level of technical personnel and high-quality management personnel for unified management, generally apply HACCP management system. All management should form a documented system, and there are people responsible for the implementation. Only by standardized management can we truly guarantee the safety of aseptic cold-filled beverages. Comparison of raw materials and production line costs of the two types of filling production line investment costs are very different, aseptic cold filling using the bottle blowing machine blowing fast, less power consumption, while the hot filling blowing machine blowing slower, consume a lot of power, in the same production capacity, the investment is much higher than the cold filling blowing machine (not including preform equipment). Aseptic cold filling process is complex, filling auxiliary equipment is more. Overall comparison, the initial investment in an aseptic filling production line is higher than the hot filling production line. Raw material costs, mainly the quality of the two types of bottles differ greatly, saving raw materials to reduce costs. Due to the special requirements of hot filling PET bottle mouth, the weight of the two kinds of bottle cap is not the same. In terms of operating costs, aseptic cold filling more than one sterilization fluid consumption, but the total cost is still much lower, and the faster the production line speed, the higher the output, the lower its production costs. By comparison, it can be seen that the initial investment in aseptic cold filling is relatively large, but because of the aseptic cold filling raw material costs and operating costs are relatively low, so it will quickly recover the higher part of the investment. With the prolongation of the use of equipment, aseptic cold filling of low-cost advantages can be clearly shown. Conclusion of traditional beverage hot filling technology and aseptic cold filling technology has now been widely used, the technology has its own advantages, the traditional hot filling process is mature, the product risk is small, the operation is relatively simple, the skills of the staff is not very high, but its shortcomings in the preservation of freshness of beverages can not be completely resolved. Aseptic cold filling technology process requirements are complex, the product also has a certain degree of risk, but its products in the beverage nutrition and preservation of freshness, with hot filling incomparable advantages in the future development of the market has a very broad prospect. It should be seen, with the modern filling technology is becoming more and more perfect, aseptic cold filling will gradually replace the hot filling to become the most important way of beverage packaging.