Reducing CO₂ Emissions with Latest Aseptic Filling Innovation

To date, the risk that filterable bacteria may pass through the filters has limited the use of sterilizing filters for sterilizing beverages. In many cases, large amounts of energy have been required by heating water to approximately 140°C to achieve sterilization. APS's solution is to combine UV lamps that eliminates even the smallest microbes with a sterilizing filtration filter. This method makes it possible to produce beverages of the same quality as those produced by conventional thermal sterilization, without the need to heat the main component of the beverage - water.

In conventional PET Bottle Aseptic Filling Systems, a large volume of beverages are produced by diluting the product solution, or syrup, with water which has been sterilized with UHT. Water sterilized by UHT heat is also used to wash the containers. APS succeeded in reducing the energy used in liquid treatment by approximately 80% by sterilizing water for both diluting and cleaning, using a UV lamp and a sterilizing filter, using much less energy than conventional thermal sterilization.

The new aseptic filling system for PET bottles sterilizes in two steps, once before blow molding, at the preform stage, and secondly during blow molding into the bottle shape. Because the surface area of the preform is much smaller than that of a fully blown bottle, the two-step sterilization process reduces the amount of chemicals used by approximately 40%. In addition, by making the sterilization equipment more compact, the installation area can be reduced by approximately 30%. This in turn allows beverage manufacturers to make more effective use of limited space in their factories.

The newly developed non-thermal sterilization system and two-step sterilization system have been proven to exhibit a high energy-saving performance. These two systems are eligible to receive subsidies for advanced equipment and systems under the FY2025 supplementary budget of the Energy Saving Investment Promotion and Demand Structure Transformation Support Project run by the Sustainable Open Innovation Initiative.^​​

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APS have a network of successful installations worldwide and is a leading supplier to the Japanese soft drinks market. This newly developed system is available to all beverage manufacturers, not only in Japan but also in China, Southeast Asia and other regions. We will contribute to the provision of safer and more reliable soft drinks and cut CO₂ emissions.

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• Information contained in this release is current as of the date of announcement, and is subject to change without notice.