A complete line for edible oil in PET bottles

The new PET filling line at Setuza, Czechia’s biggest producer and bottler of edible oils, comprises a 24-valve Sensometic VPGW filler. The Sensometic VPGW is a filling system that handles still products in non-pressurised mode using the gravity principle. Since the filling valves close upwards, the product flows gently into the bottle during the closing operation – filling is thus terminated without deflecting the product jet. Thanks to the ring bowl’s motorised height adjustment feature, the machine can be quickly changed over for handling different container sizes. Before every filling operation, the weighing cell determines the empty weight of each individual container, after which the filling process is started and the return air escapes from the bottle’s neck directly into the atmosphere. As soon as the weighing cell measures the preprogrammed fill quantity in the container, it transmits a signal to the control system to close the valve stem.
According to the experience of the Czech bottler, the Sensometic VPGW achieves an accuracy of ± 1 g/l. The filler incorporates an integrated nitrogen injection feature prior to capping. This ensures that the residual air is expelled from the bottle’s head space, thus creating additional protection against oxidation of the sensitive unsaturated fatty acids and vitamins. In the filler’s ring bowl, too, that is filled with oil from below the surface, gaseous nitrogen is added from above, and a slight overpressure of 0.5 bar is established. By using different pressures, Setuza has options for dosing both liquid and gaseous nitrogen. The droppler head is also rinsed with gaseous nitrogen. A further plus for nitrogen droppling in the bottle’s head space, of course, is increased stability of the PET container concerned.