New in the Contiform series: Stretch blow-moulder for large containers

An ecologically sensible solution for packaging drinking water and edible oil: The Contiform 3 BigBottle produces PET containers with a volume of up to eight litres.

A resource-economical option for packaging large amounts of drinking water

Drinking water in large containers: For millions of consumers, that is an essential constituent of their daily diet, whether because they live in a region where you cannot depend on clean water from the tap, or because they prefer to drink the water of their choice. Sensitive consumers, in particular, will look for alternatives to water containing germs, high amounts of nitrate or other substances, to avoid adverse reactions. Nor is chlorinated drinking water to everybody’s taste, but chlorination at least ensures microbiological safety.

Large PET containers – a growing market

When it comes to packaging water, large-volume containers offer major ecological and financial advantages – firstly because a smaller amount of packaging material per litre is needed, and secondly because a smaller number of containers means a reduced outlay for handling and logistics. Not really suitable for “On the go” consumption but all the more so for household needs.

The new Contiform 3 BigBottle produces containers with a volume of up to eight litres.

Plastic containers for water and oil that are bigger than the usual household sizes of up to three litres account for more than one per cent of plastic bottles worldwide. They are made of different materials, with polycarbonate (PC), HDPE and PET, of course, deserving special mention here. Whereas PC, due to its relatively high price and better heat resistance, is essentially used for returnable containers, HDPE will in the water segment only be found in niche applications. The situation is entirely different with PET: Large PET containers are a lightweight packaging option, with growth rates of around five per cent.

In order to supply this growing market with the requisite technology, the Krones Group has expanded its product portfolio: The new Contiform 3 BigBottle produces containers with a volume of up to eight litres. It features 10 to 14 cavities and achieves an output of about 10,000 to 16,800 containers per hour. It is also able to handle smaller formats from a volume of two litres.

Article 25380 — The new Contiform for large containers represents a reliable solution for the growing market for large-volume water and edible oil containers.

As a large-container machine in the higher output range, the Contiform 3 BigBottle closes a gap in the group’s portfolio, which has already included suitable technologies for large-container production in the lower output range, built and sold by the Kosme subsidiary. With four, six or eight cavities, the Kosme machines produce containers with a volume of up to eleven litres. Linear machines for containers holding up to 30 litres round off the portfolio. The stretch blow-moulders from both Krones and Kosme are ideally suited for handling recycled PET and can be block-synchronised with other machines. The first Contiform 3 BigBottle, too, did not leave the Krones plant as a stand-alone machine – It was delivered to China as part of a blow-moulder/filler block.