Water is the main ingredient in soft drinks. To achieve decarbonization in the soft drink production process, DNP has developed Green Aseptic, a next-generation system for non-thermal water sterilization.
In April 2024, a major soft-drink plant in Shizuoka began commercial tea production using DNP’s Green Aseptic system. To accommodate growing demand, a new facility for beverage production and warehousing was completed in March 2024.

• Overview
• Green Aseptic
• Filling process
• Verification
• Future

Location: Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan (new factory opened in March 2024)
Start-up: April 2024
Products: Green tea, oolong tea, etc.
Line speed: 36,000 bph (500ml PET)
Aseptic validation: 3× media-fill runs, over 10,000 bottles each resulting in 0 spoilage
Technology scope: Green aseptic non-thermal water sterilization, compact UHT sterilizer for the product concentrate, and aseptic blender

With DNP's system, the product concentrate is heat-sterilized using a compact UHT sterilizer and then diluted with non-thermal sterile water. After being mixed in an aseptic blender, the product is filled with an aseptic filler. Compared to the conventional method of sterilizing product liquids using UHT sterilizers alone, this new aseptic processing achieves approximately 80% decarbonization and energy savings according to our research and data monitoring.

UHT-sterilized tea extract is aseptically blended with ultra-low carbon sterile water at a high dilution ratio. Then 500ml PET bottles are aseptically filled at 36,000 bph using an aseptic filler. All conventional heat-sterilized sterile water used for rinsing bottles, closures, and chambers in the aseptic filling machine has been replaced with non-heated, sterile water.

Aseptic verification was conducted on the tea filling machine to determine whether the Green Aseptic system was as sterile as a conventional UHT sterilizer. This verification was conducted on site by Aseptic Systems Co., Ltd. (APS), DNP’s aseptic technology department. The method was to first heat sterilize a highly concentrated pH 7 media broth in the compact UHT sterilizer.
Sterile water was produced by non-heat sterilization using medium-pressure UV lamps and sterilization filters. These were mixed in the aseptic blender and aseptically filled by the filler. More than 10,000 media-filled bottles were incubated per test.
After one week of incubation at 30°C, all bottles were visually inspected to ensure there were no spoiled bottles. This media fill test was carried out three times, and afterwards, all tests confirmed zero spoilage. These test results validated the reliability of Green Aseptic and allowed production to start, as planned, on April 1, 2024.

The history of aseptic packaging began in the 1960s. The technology fills heat-sterilized products into sterilized packs in an aseptic environment. Products that cannot be heat sterilized are filtered and sterilized using a 0.2 µm sterilization filter. However, 0.2 µm sterilization filters have been reported to allow ultra-small and filterable bacteria to pass through.
DNP tested the UV resistance of these bacteria and found UV irradiation conditions that kill UV-resistant filterable bacteria at 12 Log or more. By combining medium-pressure UV lamps with 0.1 µm sterilization filters, DNP successfully produced sterile water with the same level of sterility as conventional heat sterilization without heating. This patented technology has enabled significant decarbonization and energy savings in liquid processing equipment for low and high-acid beverages. DNP is committed to using its long-established aseptic technology to solve today’s societal challenges and contribute to the realization of a sustainable society.