Recently AKOMAG delivered, installed, and tested a new machine for washing recycled glass bottles at high-speed for the PepsiCo Group.
Akomag is a flexible and dynamic company whose organizational policy is based on customer satisfaction, system quality, assistance services and technological innovation. Akomag has been working for several years in the bottling sector, and has a long experience in this sector, thanks to which customers are guaranteed highest performance, ease of use, minimum operational costs and a long working life of the machines built with top-quality and certified materials.
The new Hydra 8.2 bottle washer, characterized by a speed of up to 37,000 bottles per hour, is the latest result of this long experience. Today the washer reaches a mechanical efficiency equal to 99.4%, far exceeding the standards required by the customer PepsiCo in the contractual phase. Thanks to this important supply, the Italian company once again confirms itself as world leader in the construction of glass bottle washers.
The bottle washer Hydra 8.2 has been specially designed to minimise the environmental impact, with particular attention to water and steam consumptions, and to the duration of the detergent bath. The completely automated wash cycle includes an initial bottle-spraying station for bottle pre-washing followed by a double pre-soak bath that significantly reduces pollution. In the pre-soak area, Akomag has installed a belt filter that allows to automatically remove the main impurities typical of recycled bottles (straws, paper, cigarette butts, for instance).
Final rinsing sprays
The bottle washing cycle is completed with the internal and external sprays with high-pressure detergent, using self-cleaning and self-centring rotating nozzles. The accurate rinsing is performed with water a series of sprays (at decreasing temperature), which accompany the bottles to the final rinse. In designing this machine, Akomag has focused on the final rinsing sprays using mains water. The expedients developed during the design stage have allowed to achieve extraordinary results.
By installing a special valve with integrated flow meter on the mains pipe (controlled directly by the control panel), it is possible to detect the instantaneous and daily water consumption required for the proper washing of the bottles. “With pride and satisfaction, we can state that thanks to the new design, the new machine achieves a water consumption equal to 0.098 litres per bottle: A lower value than rigidly imposed in contractual phase by the customer”, state Akomag technicians.
The supply for PepsiCo includes: Sensors for slowing down or stopping the machine in case of missing or clogging of the bottles on the conveyor belts; bottle washer speed synchronized with that of the filling monobloc; control and adding of detergent and additives in the washing bath and of sequestrants/disinfectants in the spray tanks; self-cleaning filters in the tanks; automatic bottle loading and unloading, perfectly synchronized with the movement of the main chain.
