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StarLITE Nitro

Sidel's StarLite Nitro base is a new non-petaloid base designed for still beverages bottled with nitrogen dosing. The new base can improve PET bottle resistance and stability, even in extreme high temperatures, while lowering package weight and energy consumption and hence the impact on the environment.

The StarLite Nitro base takes all the benefits of the StarLite base - which was introduced in 2013 for the production of non-carbonated beverages bottled in PET and received the 'Best Environmental Sustainability Initiative' at the 2013 Global Bottled Water Awards.  

Ensured bottle quality and strength

The Nitro base ensures improved PET bottle quality and stability throughout the entire supply chain.

  • It increases bottle resistance to deformation in any production environment, including production at high altitude with distribution at sea level or applications subject to very high temperatures
  • The large and stable surface upon which the bottle stands, combined with other structural elements within the bottle design, enables the formed PET bottle to better withstand the internal pressure caused by the addition of nitrogen and improves bottle stability during conveying
  • The Nitro base has been tested by Sidel's packaging experts with numerous computer simulations and has been subjected to real-world, physical testing
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Reduced bottle weight and blowing pressure

The Nitro base enables producers to reduce bottle weight and blowing pressure.

  • The base decreases the amount of raw material needed to create the finished PET bottles by enabling the reduction of wall thickness to attain the optimum strength-to-weight ratio
  • Using less PET, the resulting bottles use less energy during the blowing process, are lighter in weight and therefore cost less to produce
  • A 0.5 litre PET bottle with a StarLite Nitro base weighing 1.8 grams can resist an internal pressure of up to 1.1 bars depending on the design of both the preform and the bottle, and the grade of the PET resin used.

Attractive and flexible bottle designs

The Nitro base allows attractive PET bottle shapes and flexible packaging solution for various production types.

  • It enables the same PET bottle design to be used for beverages, produced with or without nitrogen dosing
  • It works with regular, ultra clean and aseptic filling, with a design similar to the base of bottles usually used for still beverage production, allowing easy identification of still beverages and avoiding confusion with mini-petaloid base bottles, traditionally associated with carbonated soft drinks
  • The base is available for bottles ranging in size from 0.2 to 2.0 litres
  • It can be adapted for all generations of Sidel blowing machines, whatever the production output, including the latest Sidel Matrix™ blower
  • The Nitro base can easily be incorporated into most existing bottle designs and retrofitted onto existing production lines and moulds

Improved supply chain performance

  • With increased stability and resistance, bottles with the StarLite Nitro base perform better throughout the whole supply chain, even in harsh conditions
  • The Nitro base optimises production uptime, keeping stoppages to an absolute minimum, as the bottles are far less likely to fall while they are being conveyed to the labelling and packing stages 
  • Bottles have more resistance to extreme temperatures.  In conditions of up to 50°C storage, bottles can go up to 25 days without deformation and have the potential to last even longer. They can also demonstrate a 50% decrease in base rollout under frozen conditions

Tangible cost reductions and sustainable production

The potential for lightweighting that the new Sidel StarLite Nitro base offers can mean substantial savings in cost too.

  • A reduction of just 1 gram in a 0.5 litre PET bottle produced at 2,200 bottles per hour (based on 5,000 hours of annual production) can lead to reduced use of raw material that results in savings of 396,000 Euros per year -
  • A reduction of just 1.8 grams in a 1.5 litre bottle can lead to savings of 713,000 Euros per year 
  • The base is easier to blow than existing bases, having a wider range of parameter settings - or 'process window' - to achieve the desired blown result.
  • Applying the base can reduce the need for air pressure by up to 25%. For a 0.5 or 1.0 litre bottle for example, only 18 to 20 bars of air pressure are needed for blowing, compared to the 25 bars needed for traditional bases.  This in itself can lead to additional savings of up to Euros 90,000[1] every year.

 

[1] Based on Sidel Matrix SBO 20 producing 0.5 litre PET bottles

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