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| "Activating intelligence"
is the new slogan for research and development efforts
at Nippon Gohsei. These R&D efforts are now
exploring further possibilities for beer. Consumers
are familiar with beer bottles and beer cans, but
some may wonder why beer does not come in plastic
bottles. After all, plastic bottles (such as PET
bottles) are lightweight, do not break easily and
can be recapped. The reason that plastic bottles
have not been used in the beer industry is partly
because of their inadequate gas barrier properties.
Beer's distinctive flavor is produced by a complex
blend of various aromatic components. With PET monolayer
bottles, however, that flavor is easily destroyed
by oxygen that passes through the bottle, and the
carbon dioxide in the beer also escapes, so it is
difficult to maintain the quality of the beer. However,
the introduction of coinjection techniques that
use "Soarnol®" as a middle layer in
the PET bottle prevents oxidation of the beer by
oxygen passing through the bottle, and also keeps
the carbon dioxide in the beer. |
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| The oxygen barrier performance generally
required for a beer bottle is 0.003cc / bottle /
day / atm, while the carbon dioxide barrier performance
- meaning the number of days until the carbon dioxide
in the beer is reduced by 20% - is 120 days or more.
Monolayer PET bottles do not reach either of these
performance levels. However, when "Soarnol"
is used as a middle layer, the oxygen barrier performance
is 0.002cc / bottle / day / atm and the carbon dioxide
barrier performance is 300 days or more. |
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