At the Enterprise & Environment Awards in France, the French Ecology Ministry has awarded joint first place in the ‘Efficient and Clean Technology’ category to Refresco France, Sidel and PepsiCo France.
The award was made by François Moisan, executive director for international strategy and research at the French Environment and Energy Agency (ADEME), during the Pollutec fair in Paris.
Sidel’s main contribution to the award was the installation of its latest dry-decontamination technology for bottling beverages, the Combi Predis/Capdis FMa, at Saint-Alban-les-Eaux, a Refresco France plant where Lipton Ice Tea drinks are bottled for PepsiCo France.
The Combi Predis/Capdis FMa features advanced dry technology for decontaminating preforms (the Predis) and during bottle closure (the Capdis).
Compared with conventional wet bottle decontamination systems, the Predis uses no water, very few chemicals and less energy.
These savings result from the use of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as a disinfectant and the application of the decontamination process on the preform, which has a surface area that is 10 times smaller than its blown bottle, instead of on the bottle itself and during closure.
This combination eliminates the risk of chemical residue and thus the need for sterile water rinsing. Furthermore, the energy needed for the disinfectant is virtually cost-free, because it takes advantage of the thermal conditioning of preforms.
The award also embraces the ecological design of the bottles used by Refresco France, especially its choice of using 50% recycled PET.
As a result of all these innovations, the Refresco France plant is now saving more than 1,700 tons of CO2 equivalent, 38,000 cubic meters of water, 2.5 million kWh of energy and more than 400 tons of virgin PET every year.
Sterilant usage has also been reduced from 42 tons of Peracetic Acid (or Peroxyacetic Acid: PAA) to 6.7 tons of H2O2. Significant cost savings have also occurred as a result.
“The expectations of beverages players globally are becoming ever more focused on sustainability, product safety, flexibility and cost efficiency,” says Françoise Raoul-Duval, Sidel’s vice president for sensitive products.
“This can be especially hard for sensitive products, which require extra special care and expertise.”
The Efficient and Clean Technology award has been given every year since 1987 by the ADEME, part of the French Ecology ministry, with the support of Orée, a non-profit organization that specializes in environmental management with businesses and local authorities, and Credit Coopérative.
Joint first prize for Refresco, Sidel and PepsiCo at the 2011 Prix Entreprise & Environnement, France
