A case for the Spiragrip: cleaning of returnable PET bottles for mineral water

The Spiragrip represents a cleaning concept that is completely different from that of the classical bottle washers. Its technology has been developed for plastic bottles. It is based on a spiral-shaped bottle route through different baths with cleaning medium or water. The bottles are completely immersed. This allows for intensive cleaning steps in the post-treatment zones as well. A characteristic feature of the Spiragrip is container-friendly washing, coupled with minimised consumption of energy, water and chemicals. After the bottles enter in a straight line without passing an infeed table, bottle carriers grasp the bottles´ neck rings and guide them gently through the machine. Besides the bottle route the Spiragrip provides a flow-optimised label removal feature that is effective throughout the washing process because there is no conventional bottle pocket.
Mineral- und Heilbrunnen Förstina, near Fulda, also rely on the Spiragrip. "Because it’s actually been designed specifically for handling PET. So the bottles leave the machine in microbiologically faultless condition": this is how Engineering Director Stefan Schäfer subsumes the decisive factor in favour of the Spiragrip.