Enhancing the Performance of Bottle-Wash Solutions
MBAA TQ vol. 42, no. 2, 2005, pp.
117-119 |
VIEW ARTICLE
George Agius and Angelo Tobia. JohnsonDiversey Inc., Oakville, Ontario,
Canada.
Abstract
The washing of returnable glass bottles continues to be an integral part of
the packaging process in several countries. While the basic bottle-washing
chemistry appears to have remained unchanged over the years, packaging
operations now face several new environmental and cost constraints that force
them to extend the life of the cleaning solution. Increased brewery throughput
is also stretching the capacity of the typical label-extraction process and
solution-renovation equipment. Often, this results in an accumulation of
insoluble label solids, which have been clearly identified as having a
deleterious effect on the bottle appearance by leaving a film deposit on the
bottle. These insoluble solids can be settled out; however, plants often lack
solution-tank capacity and the time to do proper settling and removal. A simple
new process has been developed that utilizes existing plant equipment to
accelerate the settling of these solids and restore the bottle-wash solution.
This enables the plant to carry out more frequent settling to keep the
bottle-washing solution clean. This process reduces the overall operational
costs by eliminating the incidents of production quality holds attributed to
film deposits and a less frequent wasting and recharging of the bottle-wash
solution.
Keywords: bottle washers, caustic, deposits, flocculent, reclaim,
settling
Figure 2 is in color in this online article.
S�ntesis
El lavado de botellas retornables sigue siendo una parte integral del proceso
de envasado en varios pa�ses. La qu�mica del lavado de botellas no ha cambiado
mucho a trav�s de los a�os, pero ahora uno se enfrenta a limitaciones
ecol�gicas y de costos que obliga a extender la vida de las soluciones de
limpieza. El aumento en la producci�n de cada cervecer�a tambi�n est�
llevando al l�mite de su capacidad a los equipos de extracci�n de etiquetas y
de renovaci�n de las soluciones, da�ando la apariencia de las botellas al
depositar una fina capa de s�lidos sobre el vidrio. Estos s�lidos insolubles
podr�an ser removidos por sedimentaci�n, pero frecuentemente hace falta
suficiente capacidad en los tanques para que se sedimenten y sean removidos. Se
ha desarrollado un proceso sencillo que utiliza los equipos existentes para
acelerar la sedimentaci�n de estos s�lidos y renovar la soluci�n de limpieza.
Esto permite que se realice la sedimentaci�n con mayor frecuencia para mantener
la soluci�n limpia. Esto reduce los costos al eliminar las paradas de
producci�n al detectar dep�sitos en los envases, como tambi�n por reducir las
p�rdidas de soluci�n y el refuerzo continuo de la soluci�n.
Palabras claves: lavadora de botellas, sosa c�ustica, dep�sitos,
floculaci�n, renovaci�n de soluciones, sedimentaci�n
