Page 31 - Plastics News July 2019

FeAtures

One, body made of standard paperboard carton stock, carton much higher, there’s also the difficulty of separating
two, a double-wall corrugated a bottom, three , a top the layers when it comes time for recycling. As for other
thermoformed from polystyrene, four A multilayer high- popular containers and their oxygen transmission rates,
gas-barrier bag that holds the liquid and five, a polyolefin he lists “thick” PET bottles at about 75 cc, “thin” PET
shrink outer wrap. Central to the entire concept is that bottles commonly used for bottled water at about 350
once the container’s contents are consumed, it’s easy to cc, and three-layer aseptic cartons at about 850 cc.
separate paper from plastic and put each component in PET bottles could be made with much better gas barrier
the appropriate recycle stream. “This is where we think properties, but it would require adding EVOH, and doing
we have a decided advantage over aseptic drink boxes,” that couldn’t be justified from a cost perspective. “The
says Saslekov. “Aside from the use of some biodegradable general rule of thumb is that you need to substitute 10%
glue to create a side seam on the paperboard body, we of the bottle weight with EVOH,” he points out. “For a
don’t bond the components together. That’s why the outer standard PET bottle weighing 22 g, you’d need 2.2 g of
wrap plays such an important role. First, it protects the EVOH. Our pouch weight is only 2 g, so we only need 0.2
uncoated paper from water and humidity. More important, g of EVOH. That’s where our cost advantage comes in.”
it keeps all the other components together in a strong and Pleased as he is with the development of the high-gas-
durable configuration that readily withstands the rigors barrier bag material, Saslekov hastens to point out that
of transportation and usage.” The package even has this customers who choose to use the package for water may
message printed prominently on the paperboard sidewall: opt for a standard PE film.
“Do not remove wrapper before drinking.” Material component suppliers could vary
Equally crucial in developing this paper bottle was the widely
gas-barrier inner bag. “It took 18 months of research When asked to identify the suppliers of the packaging
and development,” says Saslekov. “First, we needed a components, Saslekov says that with the exception of the
film that can hold different types of liquids—teas, juices, proprietary coextruded inner film, any number of suppliers
flavored water. It also needed oxygen barrier properties can be used. One particular film producer is supplying the
to extend product shelf life and had to be strong enough coextruded rollstock currently, but suppliers in Europe
to withstand the impact of being dropped. Plus it had and the U.S. are being contacted now. Says Saslekov,
to be easy to puncture with a straw and be suitable for “I don’t think film suppliers will be too difficult to find.
being formed, filled, and sealed on fairly standard vertical The same is true for the paper bodies, the corrugated
form/fill/seal equipment. The exact formula is proprietary base, and the thermoformed lids. That was really one of
and patent-pending, but the layers in the coextrusion are the main goals—to eliminate the lengthy and expensive
LLDPE/LLDPE/tie/EVOH/tie/LLDPE/LLDPE.” Saslekov says transportation of materials and components.” Saskelov
the oxygen transmission rate (OTR) of this seven-layer adds that beverage producers who install the 3Epak
coextrusion is 2.77 cc/m2/24 hr. He admits a typical system “are not required to buy our materials. But we will
aseptic carton comprising seven layers, one of which is compete on equal footing for their components business.”
aluminum foil, has a considerably better OTR of 0.2 cc He also emphasizes this: “Remember, we are not trying
compared to 2.77 cc. But not only is the cost of such a
to become a bottling company and excel in the consumer
products business with this development. We want to sell
or licence our technology to strategic partners. In the
future, customers who decide to use our technology can
buy their own components from whoever they like. This
should reduce cost and facilitate global implementation.”
Saslekov says this: “The prototype line was developed by
us, including the v/f/f/s machine, so that we could prove
out our concept on a commercial basis and get bottles into
the hands of consumers. The separate modules have been
produced in different factories in China and then shipped
to Bulgaria, where they were assembled and fine-tuned.

31 July 2019 Plastics News