Filling Lines – ESL

GEA Whitebloc Filling System Aero

The Whitebloc Aero is an efficient, water rinse-free, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-based decontamination technology for plastic bottles and caps.

GEA Whitebloc Filling system Aero
Bottle decontamination is required for ESL milk-based drinks and sensitive, cold-chain distributed beverages. The choice of container decontamination technology depends largely on the application, the thermal treatment applied to the liquid product and the desired shelf-life. The Whitebloc Aero has been designed to combine a reliable decontamination process with great operational flexibility.
Davide Arpini

A filling line for the times

The Aero Advantage

“GEA’s dry technology significantly reduces water consumption and overall environmental impact, so this is a very popular solution.”

Davide Arpini,
Technical Director of the Latteria Soresina Group

H2O2 decontamination

The Whitebloc Aero uses a two-phase starwheel-based process: when the bottles enter the treatment carousel, they are sprayed with a solution of H2O2 and then flushed with hot sterile air. This activates the H2O2 and purges out any peroxides until the required decontamination level has been reached. All critical points are controlled automatically to ensure maximum decontamination efficacy.

The Whitebloc Aero can be supplied in a standalone configuration or, for PET bottle handling, it can also be combined with a stretch-blow molding machine. The Whitebloc Aero is also equipped with a single, compact and fully accessible skid for the preparation of the H2O2 solution and the filtration of sterile air and any clean-in-place (CIP) fluids.

“Aero” configuration

Extended shelf-life (ESL) products require a high level of hygienic process technology. Featuring a hygienic cabin with overpressure sterile air, a barrier between the ultraclean environment  ̶  where the filling and capping processes take place  ̶  and the outside is provided by the GEA Whitebloc Aero.

The surfaces within the hygienic cabin are accessible and easy to clean. This “Aero” configuration ensures a competitive ratio between container decontamination level and cost of operation.

The GEA Whitebloc Aero is equipped with a modular hygienic filling unit that’s configured to optimize filling performances, minimizing product waste.

Performance

The Whitebloc Aero offers up to 3 log decontamination target reduction.

Sterilcap VHP L: dry H2O2 technology for cap decontamination

GEA Sterilcap h2o2 technology for cap decontamination

The Sterilcap VHP L system is designed to handle both flat and sports caps, and offers a wide range of decontamination target levels to meet a variety of shelf-life requirements. Despite being a robust decontamination treatment, the Sterilcap VHP L is a gentle technology. The caps are maneuvered using only the VHP flow and gravity, avoiding any cap shape deformation.

Sterilfoil VHP L: H2O2 technology for foil decontamination

GEA Sterilfoil h2o2 technology for foil decontamination

The Sterilfoil VHP L provides customers with a safe and hygienic sealing system for HDPE containers.

A compact sterilization chute allows simultaneous internal and external foil decontamination. The foils are pushed forward in a pressurized VHP flow guided through shaped rails to reach the induction heads turret located in the hygienic cabin

Benefits

  • Container flexibility: the Whitebloc Aero is available for a wide range of PET and HDPE bottle formats
  • Sustainable and cost-efficient: no water is needed for container sterilization
  • Cost savings thanks to product waste reduction and low consumptions
  • Small footprint: one starwheel for bottle treatment, one compact unit to produce the H2O2 solution
  • The use of magnetic flow meters or load weight cells increases filling accuracy

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