Home / Carbonated Soft Drink Packaging Process
The word “carbonated” means that the soft drink is packaged into the container with carbon dioxide under pressure.
The production process for the carbonated drink, consists of a series of stages which occur within the carbonated soft drink filling line. The process begins with obtaining water. The water obtained undergoes processes of purification, filtration in sand, filtration in activated carbon. Subsequently, they are mixed with sugar to obtain simple syrup. Then, concentrates, preservatives, etc., are added to obtain the finished syrup.
For the washing of containers there is another type of water treatment. The finished syrup is cooled and mixed with water and CO2 to be bottled. Other parts of the process are: inspection of the bottles, packing and palletizing of the soda.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PRODUCT
The product, is within the category of drinks of the manufacturing sector. The product has several presentations in different types of containers: glass, aluminum cans and plastic. The type of machine depends on the type of packing material. In the case of cans, the carbonated can filling machine is the most appropriate.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRODUCTIVE PROCESS
The productive process, goes from obtaining the water; treated or softened, to the elaboration of finished syrups; to finally arrive to the bottling.
There is another line of use for the extracted water; in this area, it is completely demineralized by ion exchange; then, it is filtered by tanks that contain inside, layers of zeolite resin, which retain the salts and minerals that are in the water; this resin is regenerated periodically with industrial salt backwashes. The softened water is used in the washing of plastic and glass containers, and in the boilers to obtain water vapor, this avoids incrustations in the pipes of the machines.
PROCESSING OF FINISHED SYRUP
This is the most important operation. The fundamental purpose is to elaborate the finished syrup in different flavors according to the quality and health standards specified since it represents the main input for the preparation of the drink.
The preparation of syrup begins by using the treated water, which is pumped into the tank dilate, then pouring white sugar industrial, in quantities determined for each flavor and mixed uniformly for the time needed. Then the mixture is filtered by several vertical layers, which retain foreign particles, obtaining simple syrup, which is then pumped to other tanks, depending on the flavor to prepare, since each tank is assigned a flavor. After resting, the syrup is mixed with essences, colorings, flavorings, etc.; this is constantly stirred.
BOTTLING PROCESS
In this process, the beverage is bottled properly obtained, according to pre-established rules. The drink is obtained from the mixture of treated water, carbon dioxide and finished syrup, and only differs from another product by the syrup and packaging used. The packaging process of the carbonated drink is completed using the carbonated filling machine.
The carbonated filling machines vary with respect to their levels of automation. For example, we have the semi-automatic carbonated filling machine whose packaging phases are automated to a certain degree. Innovations in the field of industrial equipment manufacture has made it possible to design machines with high degree of automation.
Within a certain level of automation, there are different models. This is a factor that affects the fully automated as well as the semi-automatic carbonated filling machine price in the global market.
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