Soft drinks plant designed for high production capacity from a small footprint

One of Europe’s biggest and most sophisticated filling plants for soft drinks has been commission by soft-drinks producer Pfälzer Erfrischungsgetränke (PEG) in the southwest of Germany.

With a production capacity of about 10 million hectolitres or 1.1 billion fills a year, and incorporating four PET bottling lines and one canning line, its process-engineering kit translates the latest energy-economical technology into hands-on reality. The general contractor for the entire process technology and the filling equipment was Krones AG.

“The determining factor was the conglomerate’s wish to build a facility in the southwest of Germany, so as to achieve further improvements in its ecological profile. Our new factory enables us to significantly shorten transportation distances between the filling plants and the central warehouses of our trading associates. We are thus making a valuable contribution towards resource economy and environmental protection,” explains the chairman of the production division’s managing board, Jörg Aldenkott. “From here, we are distributing our goods in a radius of about 180 km right up to the Ruhr.”

The complete plant, erected on a plot measuring 220,000 m² with about 65,000 m² of enclosed space, went into operation in September 2013.

The lines were designed on the basis of a virtual production plan, from which their outputs and technology were dimensioned.

The new plant has been dimensioned for around 1.1 billion fills.

Energy management for the power supply

One of the primary goals pursued in building the plant was to put in place cross-machine energy recovery and the use of energetically optimised systems. “All viable energy-saving systems were scrutinised,” explains Marco Heine, the plant manager at PEG. “One of our planning premises was to target the relevant benchmark on a European scale.”

The new factory building is supplied with electricity at 20 kV through two customer substations. The initial rating totals approximately 10 MW. The plant itself features three transformer substations with several oil-filled transformers, each with a corresponding medium-voltage substation for connecting the transformers and the low-voltage distribution boards. The transformers have been dimensioned for a rating of 1600 kVA. At the in-house sewage treatment facility, a unit-type cogeneration plant has been installed, with an electrical output of approximately two times 150 kW.

An energy management system to ensure compliance with DIN EN16001 (energy management standard) has also been installed for the entire power supply system, enabling electricity requirements to be calculated in advance and to be adjusted so as to avoid exceeding the permissible limit values involved. The measured data from the individual filling lines are likewise monitored separately. The system not only documents the power consumption figures, but also provides continuous documentation of the operational supply and consumption figures for compressed air and gas per cost unit and production line.

The entire supply technology kit was dimensioned on the basis of an energy concept drawn up specifically for the facility and the production operation. The equipment comprises steam; high- and low-pressure compressed air with heat recovery for hot and heating water; carbon dioxide and nitrogen; and cold water and cooling water with a refrigeration system.

A multistage compressor system supplies the production and filling lines with compressed air. Approximately 94% of the compressor’s power consumption can be utilised for heat recovery, with this recovered heat then being used for supplying the sugar- and powder-dissolving systems, for heating up the CIP make-up water and for pre-warming the boiler’s additional feedwater. In winter, the water and room heating systems for offices and staff facilities are also served from this buffer.

The heat leaving the high-pressure compressor’s cooler outlet is used, via a heat exchanger, for heating the production, process and storage premises. This means that all of the heat required for preparing warm water and heating the premises is supplied by energy recovered from the compressed air.

Appropriate selection of the temperature level and the heat exchangers, fit-for-purpose heat-recovery measures and a fine-tuned production operation have all combined to minimise the use of cooling energy generated by ammonia-compression refrigeration systems. 

Process-engineering systems for beverage preparation

The facility fills carbonated soft drinks, still water, carbonated water and energy drinks. Krones delivered a fully automatic CIP cleaning system for all line components, plus the equipment for supplying the CIP, filling and packaging kit with cleaning media from a chemicals room.

Two VarioFlash pasteurisers are accommodated in a separate room. One of these, a VarioFlash E, serves the PET line featuring Contipure preform decontamination, while the second one, a VarioFlash J 30, is responsible for treating the energy drinks. That same room also houses the equipment used for beverage blending: four Contiflow mixers, each designed for handling seven components; and a Carboflow carbonator for one of the water lines. The mixers operate continuously, with their production outputs adjustable. So as to ensure accurate dosing, appropriate quality-relevant fittings have been installed. The mixers also provide an alternative option for handling still mineral waters.

Four PET lines

The new plant has been dimensioned for around 1.1 billion fills, which are produced on four mutually independent lines for PET bottles, and on one canning line. The four PET lines have been designed to meet the specific microbiological requirements posed by the various beverages being handled, and their physical processability.

Three out of the four PET lines are identical in construction, each featuring an ErgoBloc L as the heart of the line, which monobloc-synchronises a Contiform blow-moulder, a volumetric VODM filler, a Solomodule labeller and a closer. As compared to conventional systems, the ErgoBloc L makes for an effective production operation on a minimised footprint, allowing for improvements in sustainability due to reduced energy and media consumption, and fewer malfunctions during production. By virtue of the quick-mould-change system in the Contiform 3, the time needed for product changeovers can be minimised, and both the filling and labelling kit can be operated by a single employee. One of the three lines is a dedicated water line, while the second has been earmarked for filling sweet beverages and the third one specialises in small containers of sweet beverages 500 and 330 mL in size.

Three out of the four PET lines are identical in construction, each featuring an ErgoBloc L as the heart of the line.

One line for sensitive beverages

PET Line Number Four with a Contiform Bloc featuring Contipure preform decontamination is intended for filling spritzers, water and sweet beverages into 1.5 L and 500 mL containers. The Contipure preform decontamination unit has been developed for optimising hygiene levels in PET containers and is suitable for handling sensitive, slightly carbonated fruit-juice-based drinks and spritzers. The preforms’ treatment lasts seconds and takes place between oven and blow-moulder in a dedicated chamber, using gaseous hydrogen peroxide. Thanks to the high H₂O₂ concentration in conjunction with the hot preforms, a good decontamination rate can be achieved for both the preforms’ interior and exterior. Whereas in the ErgoBloc lines the Contiroll labellers have been integrated into the monobloc, the line with Contipure preform decontamination features a Starmodule as a stand-alone labeller, which has likewise been fitted with Contiroll stations.

For the line with Contipure and for the other PET lines as well, one Variopac FS non-returnables packer each is sufficient for shrink-wrapping sixpacks in film and fitting them with a handle. The line earmarked for filling sweet beverages in small containers, in addition to the Variopac Pro FS, also contains a Variopac Pro T tray packer for producing tray packs without film from loose bottles or for shrink-wrapping sixpacks coming out of the Variopac Pro machine installed in parallel.

The line with Contipure preform decontamination features a Starmodule as a stand-alone labeller.

Centralised palletising kit

The equipment for palletising the finished and date-coded packs from all five lines has been accommodated in two separate rooms. One Robobox layer preparation unit operates for each line, in conjunction with the Modulpal Pro 1AD non-returnables palletiser. This machine consists of two basic modules, each installed at a column and positioned next to each other; the transfer station accepts the layer from the Robobox and brings it to the correct position-specific transfer level. With the transfer and loading stations working in parallel, higher outputs can be achieved. The finished pallets’ loads are stabilised by two pallet wrappers each, with pallet labelling also provided here.

All five filling lines also feature an LDS Line Documentation System for production data acquisition, plus an LMS Line Management System for coordinating and executing the orders involved. Line visualisation has likewise been integrated and serves to provide information and support for the operators.

Full-coverage networking

For Heine, the absolute highlight is the full-coverage networking: “Our group’s paramount principle is to ensure maximised product quality. And one important contribution in this regard is made not least by complete historical coverage of all the steps involved in making our products. The software package used at PEG for inter-machine communication covers each and every unit, starting with the process engineering systems right up to the filling kit, thus significantly simplifying the requisite documentation work in regard to traceability for the staff working on the lines. Though it’s a lot of work at first to get all the data processing straight, it’s all the more helpful later on for being able to run an entire factory with relatively few well-trained staff.”