WO2016005945A1

WO2016005945A1 - Apparatus for inertgas treatment of liquid food bottles and corresponding method

Info

Publication number: WO2016005945A1
Application number: PCT/IB2015/055218
Authority: WO
Inventors: Enric GÁLVEZ AVILÉS
Original assignee: Linde Ag
Priority date: 2014-07-10
Filing date: 2015-07-10
Publication date: 2016-01-14
Also published as: ES2556179A1; ES2556179B1

Abstract

The invention refers to a system (10) for inertization of bottles (14) for storing liquid food products comprising a source (20) of inert gas (11), means for regulating the pressure (30), means for dosing (40) the inert gas (11), and means for mixing (50) the inert gas (11) with the washing water. The invention also comprises a procedure for inertization of bottles (14) for storing liquid food products using this system in which all the inside of the bottles is rinsed with a mixture of water/insert gas, carried out in the rinsing stage of bottles or containers (14). The field of the invention is the technical sector of packaging or bottling of wine, sparking wines, and in general, packaging liquid foods where control of the levels of oxygen dissolved in the final bottled product is required.

Description

BOTTLE INERTIZATION SYSTEM FOR STORAGE OF FOOD LIQUIDS, INERTIZATION PROCEDURE, AND PROCEDURE FOR STORAGE OF FOOD LIQUIDS THAT UNDERSTAND IT.

DESCRIPTION

Object of the invention The present invention, as expressed in the statement of this specification, refers to a system of inerting bottles for the storage of food liquids, which is applied to the washing stage of the bottles prior to bottling of food liquids, and comprising an inert gas power supply, pressure regulating means, inert gas dosing means, and means for mixing the inert gas with the wash water.

Another object of the invention is a method of inerting bottles for the storage of food liquids, in which, in the stage of rinsing the bottles or containers, prior to the bottling of food liquids, the entire space is rinsed inside the bottles with a mixture of water / inert gas.

Still another object of the invention is a process for bottling food liquids comprising a system and an inertization process described in the present invention.

Field of application of the invention

The scope of the invention is framed within the technical sector of the packaging of food liquids, especially in the packaging or bottling of wines, champagnes, and in general, in the packaging of food liquids where control of the levels of dissolved oxygen in the final bottled product is required.

Background of the invention

It is known the role that oxygen plays during the bottling of food liquids, and especially in the final quality and duration of said packaged liquids. It is known that high concentrations of oxygen in the bottling phase of these liquids negatively affect their shelf life once they are packaged, since, for example, these oxygen concentrations can consume other substances such as S0 ₂ which are necessary for the conservation and durability of these bottled liquids.

In this sense it is known that there are three main sources that provide oxygen in the bottles, they are the head space, which cannot be controlled beyond the design of the bottler and that usually varies in quantities between 0.6 to 3 mg / 1, the oxygen dissolved during bottling, and the oxygen that enters through the cap and which will subsequently consume the necessary compounds for the conservation of said liquids.

Of special interest is the control of dissolved oxygen during bottling. It is known that in a bottle, for example of wine, it can be trapped up to or more than 3.1 mg / 1 of dissolved oxygen, which is Enough to spoil the product. In this bottling phase, dissolved oxygen varies throughout the entire process, firstly it is increased by the filling of the line, the filters and by the formation of air pockets in the pipes, and subsequently it is further increased by the final thrust when incorporating the cap on the neck of the bottles, acting as a plunger that causes an increase in the pressure in the head space that is free of liquid, favoring the dissolution in the liquid of the oxygen that is in that space.

Among the main methods used to decrease the amount of oxygen available in the bottling phase is inertization, in which an inert gas, mainly CO2, is supplied during this bottling phase.

The known methods of inertization in this phase include, among others, the filling with this type of gases of the empty spaces that remain between the surface of the liquid and the upper part of the container, as well as inerting the bottle just before filling or packing. In the first case there is patent AU26626 which discloses a method of storing a liquid in a storage container that includes among others the steps of partially filling the container with a liquid and subsequently supplying an inert gas, to create a layer of inert gas on the surface of said liquid.

In the second case there is patent ES2076646, where a process for filling bottles with a liquid material to be packaged in which the container is washed in a loading phase is disclosed previous with an inert gas, filling in a temporarily subsequent phase with the liquid material to be packaged.

However, these methods imply a high cost in the bottling process, and in addition, they are not as efficient as desired, as, as previously mentioned, there are other steps during filling that incorporate oxygen into the bottles. Therefore, it is necessary a method of inertization that is as much or more effective than current processes, and that implies a considerable decrease in the cost of its application.

These and other drawbacks are overcome with the inertization system of the present invention.

Description of the invention

When we refer to the general bottling process in this specification, reference is made to the procedure for bottling food liquids that includes, a previous phase of washing / rinsing the containers or bottles that will store the product, and a final bottling phase of the food liquid

In this report, the term "container and bottle" are used interchangeably and refer to the glass container with a narrow neck, which serves to contain liquids.

The proposed invention comprises a bottle inertization system for the bottling of food liquids that is applied in the bottle washing stage, which is carried out prior to the final bottling of the food liquids, and where said system comprises a power supply Of gas, pressure regulating means, inert gas dosing means, and inert gas mixing means with washing or rinsing water, where the system is adapted to perform mixing of the inert gas with the rinsing water of the bottles , so that when rinsing in the interior space of the bottles with said mixture of water / inert gas, the oxygen inside the bottles is displaced and replaced by the inert gas supplied.

For this, the system comprises an inert gas power supply that supplies said gas, where the inert gases are chosen from the group consisting of carbon dioxide C0 ₂ , nitrogen N ₂ , argon and mixtures thereof. When mixtures of these gases are used, they are used in a proportion ranging from 60% to 80% nitrogen and between 40% to 20% C0 _2. The power supply used will depend on the inert gas used and may be from the known bottles of C02, nitrogen and argon to cryogenic tanks containing nitrogen, C02 and argon.

After said feeding means, the system of the invention has inert gas dosing means, said means forming a gas injection control unit, which acts by means of a stop / start signal from the general process of bottled, and that includes a flowmeter adapted to supply different doses or flows of inert gas in the system, in addition to including injection solenoid valve, a pressure reducer, and a check valve.

Depending on the inert gas used, it may be used, between the power supply and the dosing means, other elements such as high pressure regulators, heaters, etc., suitable for adapting the gases in a safe manner to the application being made.

On the other hand, the inert gas mixing means, are arranged after the dosing means, and have the function of mixing the inert gas with the rinse water that is supplied to the rinsing machine, for them the mixing means comprise a sight glass formed by a glass cylinder that supplies the inert gas by mixing with the cleaning water in said sight glass. The gas passes through the water pipe and enters the bottle.

The mixing means can be installed, either in the pipe that supplies the rinsing water to the rinsing machine, in a position before the inlet of said machine, or in the rinsing machine itself, in a position after the pump rinse water supply.

The different means comprising the system will be connected to each other from the power supply to the mixing means by conventional pipes, such as nylon pipes, or any type of food pipes that are commonly used in the work with gaseous fluids.

The inerting system of the invention will be activated or stopped by means of a stop / start signal from the bottling process. This signal is received in the control panel that will act as it is. Thus, the stop / start signal of the The process can come from the rinsing machine itself, activating the system when the machine starts up, or according to another variant of the system the signal can come from the bottle conveyor belt.

Other elements such as check valve, ball valve, etc., may be installed between the dosing means and the mixing means, to ensure proper operation, and system safety.

Another object of the present invention is a process for inerting bottles or containers of food liquids that employs the inertization system defined above and comprising the steps of:

- Dosed injection of an amount of inert gas into the rinse water that is used in the rinsing machine, so that a mixture of water / inert gas is created.

- rinse the entire interior space of the bottles or containers of food liquids with said inert water-gas mixture, so that during the rinsing of the bottles the oxygen inside them is displaced and replaced by said inert gas.

The inert gas is chosen from the group consisting of CO2, nitrogen ₂ , argon and mixtures thereof, and said gases are supplied in gaseous form.

The supply of inert gas to the rinsing water can be carried out either in the pipe that supplies the rinsing water to the rinsing machine, in a position before the inlet of said machine, or in the rinsing machine itself, in a position after the rinse water supply pump.

It is another object of the present invention, a process for the storage or bottling of food liquids comprising a previous inertization phase of the storage bottles, which is performed according to the inertization procedure defined above, and which comprises the embodiment in the rinsing machine for rinsing the inside of the bottles with a mixture of inert water-gas, so that the inert gas displaces the oxygen content inside the bottles.

This procedure guarantees a decrease in dissolved oxygen in the final product in a range of values between 60% and 85%.

This decrease allows that during the bottling or packaging process it is not necessary to apply the known inertization methods, which are normally applied either with the injection of gas directly inside the containers, or with the injection of gas into the head space that is created after filling the container with liquids in the bottling machine.

Additionally, the application of the inertization procedure defined here during the rinsing of the bottles or containers, allows a considerable saving in the amounts of rinse water used, since part of the water flow is replaced by the gas, considerably reducing the working pressures to which said water is supplied. In addition, rinsing with the inert water / gas mixture reduces the drain time of the rinsing water in the bottles, and due to the speed at which it arrives water to the bottles driven by inert gas, a complete and homogeneous rinse is guaranteed. Also, it could be the case that the speed of the rinsing machine can be increased, since we reduce the rinsing time.

Other details and features will become apparent in the course of the description that follows, in which a practical embodiment of the invention is shown by way of illustration but not limitation, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Description of the figures

Figure No. 1 is an illustrative scheme of the inertization system of the present invention.

Figure No. 2 corresponds to an illustrative scheme of another variant embodiment of the inertization system of the invention. Preferred Embodiment of the Invention

The recommended invention consists of a bottle inertization system for the bottling of food liquids that is applied, within the bottling process, in the bottle washing phase, said washing is normally carried out as a phase prior to the final bottling of the liquids. food Said system (10) comprises, as illustrated in Figure No. 1, an inert gas power supply (20), high pressure regulating means (30), inert gas dosing means (40), and means for mixing inert gas (50) with washing or rinsing water, where the system performs gas mixing inert (11) with the rinse water (12) that comes through the pipe, so that by supplying said mixture (13) of rinse water / inert gas, the oxygen inside the bottles (14) is displaced and be replaced by the inert gas (11) supplied in the mixture.

The power supply (20) of inert gas may comprise carbon dioxide C0 _2, nitrogen N _2, argon or mixtures thereof. Depending on the type of inert gas used, the power supply will be chosen. As can be seen in Figure No. 1, a bottle type source, of those used in the supply of C0 ₂ , has been represented, and in Figure no. 2 the source is represented as a block of inert gas.

The said feeding means (20), as illustrated in Figure No. 1, are connected to the high pressure regulating means (30) and these, in turn, are connected with the dosing means (40) of inert gas (11), which form a control unit for inert gas injection. The dosing means (40) of inert gas include a flow meter (41) adapted to deliver different doses or flows of inert gas in the system, in addition to including an injection electro-valve (42), a pressure reducer (43), and a check valve (44), located after the flow meter (41).

After the dosing means, the inerting system (10) comprises the mixing means (50) of inert gas, which will have the function of mixing the inert gas (11) with the rinse water that comes through the pipe ( 12) that is supplied to the rinsing machine (60). Said mixing means (50) comprise a sight glass (51) formed by a glass cylinder through which the inert gas (11) is passed inside the pipe, mixing (11) with the rinse water that comes through the pipe (12) in said sight glass.

The mixing means (50) can be installed well in the pipe (14) that supplies the rinsing water to the rinsing machine (60) as shown in Figure No. 1, in a position before the entrance of said machine , or in the rinsing machine itself (60) in a position after the pump (61). For this, the sight glass (51) will comprise at the ends conventional connection means that will allow it to engage in the aforementioned positions.

The inerting system (10) of the invention will be activated or stopped by means of a stop / start signal (15) from the general bottling process. Said signal is received in the dosing means (40), and will allow the start or stop of the injection electro-valve (42) and with it the supply or stop of the inert gas. The stop / start signal of the process can come from the rinsing machine itself (60), as shown in figure No. 1, activating the system when the machine starts up, or it can also come from the conveyor belt of bottles (not shown) linking the supply of inert gas to the activation or stopping of said belt.

The different means comprising the system will be connected to each other, from the power supply (20) to the mixing means (50), by conventional pipes, such as pipes of nylon, or any type of food pipes that are commonly used in works with gaseous fluids.

The inertization system was tested experimentally by checking the dissolved oxygen in packed liquids.

For this purpose, tests were performed to determine the average data of the decrease of dissolved oxygen in a packaged final product, which uses the inertization system and method of the present invention, and was compared with the average data of dissolved oxygen in a packaged final product. which does not employ the inertization process of the invention.

Table No. 1 shows the results of these measurements.

Bottled bottle with

pre-rinse only dissolved oxygen water

Baseline data 0.1 mg / 1

Final data in bottle

1.3 mg / 1

after bottling

Bottled bottle with

pre-rinse using dissolved oxygen water / inert gas mixture

Baseline data 0.1 mg / 1 Final data in bottle

0.5 mg / 1

after bottling

As shown in the results, when applying the inertization process of the present invention using the water / inert gas mixture, the dissolved oxygen value in the bottled liquid was reduced to values of 0.5 mg / 1 oxygen dissolved, which is equivalent to a 61.5% decrease with respect to the 1.3 mg / 1 value corresponding to the bottled product where the rinse was done only with water.

The foregoing demonstrates that by means of the inertization process of the present invention, adequate values of dissolved oxygen in the final bottled product are achieved, preventing deterioration during the time they will be stored.

In addition, it is easy to understand that the levels of dissolved oxygen in the final product can be regulated or controlled by regulating the amounts of inert gas supplied during the rinsing phase.

Described sufficiently the present invention in correspondence with the exemplary embodiment set forth, it is easy to understand that any modification of details deemed convenient may be made therein, provided that the essence of the invention that is summarized in the following claims is not altered .

Claims

R E I V I N D I C A C I O N E S

I ^a .- Bottle inertization system for the bottling of food liquids, characterized in that the system is incorporated in the bottle washing phase prior to the bottling of food liquids, and comprises an inert gas power supply, means of high pressure regulation, inert gas metering means, and inert gas mixing means with the washing or rinsing water, where the system is adapted to perform mixing of the inert gas with the rinsing water of the bottles, of so that when rinsing inside the bottles with said inert water / gas mixture, the oxygen inside the bottles is displaced and replaced by the inert gas supplied.

2 .- inerting system bottles according ^to claim I, wherein the inert gas is chosen from the group consisting of C02, nitrogen N2, argon and mixtures thereof.

3 .- inerting system bottles according to 2 claim, wherein when gas mixtures are used, they are used in a proportion ranging from 60% to 80% nitrogen and between 40% to 20% C0 ₂ .

4 .- inerting system bottles according ^to claim I, wherein the dosing means form an inert gas control unit Inert gas, which acts via a signal on / off from the general process bottled and that includes a flowmeter adapted to supply different doses or flows of inert gas in the system, an injection electro-valve, a pressure reducer, and a check valve.

5 .- inerting system bottles according to I ⁱⁿ claim, wherein the mixing means of the inert gas are positioned after the metering means, and have the function of mixing the inert gas with the wash water supplied to the rinsing machine, and comprise a sight glass formed by a glass cylinder, through which the inert gas is passed into the pipe, mixing with the rinse water in said peephole.

6 .- inerting system bottles according ^to claim 4, wherein the control unit operates by a signal of stop / start process from the rinser.

7 .- inerting system bottles according ^to claim 4, wherein the control unit operates by a signal of stop / start process from the bottle conveyor.

8 .- bottles inerting system according to I and 5th claims, wherein the mixing means of inert gas cleaning with water are installed in the supply pipe cleaning water before the entry to the machine bottle cleaner

9 .- bottles inerting system according to I and 5th claims, characterized in that the mixing means of inert gas with cleaning water is installed in the cleaning machine itself bottles.

10 .- inerting system according to bottles I ^to claim, characterized in that between the dosing means of inert gas, and the mixing means of inert gas with cleaning water at least one valve and a ball valve are arranged.

11 .- Method for inerting bottles or liquid food, employing the defined inerting system according ^to I and 10 claims, comprising the steps of:

- Dosed injection of an amount of inert gas into the rinse water that will be used in the rinsing machine, so that a mixture of water-inert gas is created.

rinse the entire interior space of the bottles or containers of food liquids with said inert water-gas mixture, so that during the rinsing of the bottles the oxygen inside them is displaced and replaced by said inert gas.

12 ^a .- Method according ^to claim 11, characterized in that where the inert gas is chosen within the group consisting of C0 ₂ , nitrogen 2, argon and mixtures thereof, and said compounds are supplied in gaseous form.

13 .- Method according to 11 claim, wherein the mixture of inert gas with the rinse water is performed in the line supplying rinse water to the rinsing machine, in a position before the input of said machine.

14 ^a .- Procedure according ^to claim 11, characterized in that the mixing of the inert gas with the Rinsing water is carried out in the rinsing machine itself, in a position after the rinsing water drive pump.

15 .- Method for the bottling of alimentary liquids, characterized in that it comprises a prior phase inertization of bottles or stored, performing said pre according inertization process defined in claims 11 to 14, and comprising the rinsing machine of a rinse of the inner part of the bottles with a mixture of water / inert gas, so that the inert gas displaces the oxygen content present inside the bottles.