PET makes it possible to have your beer and be sustainable too

PET could replace stainless steel beer kegs in a material swap product developers say will be more environmentally friendly and cost effective for the beer industry.

Antwerp, Belgium-based Dispack Projects worked with Quadrant Creative Molding & Systems on a package that combines the PET 20-liter and 30-liter kegs with a glass-reinforced nylon valve system rather than standard steel.

The Dolium tanks connects with more standard filling and dispensing systems while the finished system is both lighter to transport, and — because PET is easy to recycle — doesn't have to be transported back to the beer companies when they're empty.

“Brewers can avoid huge capital investments in pools of metal kegs that have a very low yearly rotation, especially in use on long distance,” said Albert Wauters, the founder of Dispack and inventor of Dolium. “By optimizing the outbound shipment — efficient geometry replacing the stainless steel weight by more product — and by avoiding long distance return transport, we skip important transport costs as well as the excessive energy consumption of a one-way keg.”

Quadrant CMS, part of Japan's Mitsubishi Plastics Inc., developed the injection molded recyclable valve system.

 “Converting applications from metal to plastics is something we're very familiar with at Quadrant, however close collaboration with the customer is needed to lead the development process to a successful application,” said Jan Claeys, Quadrant account manager.

“For this project we had to follow both a conservative and innovative approach as not much space was given for major design adaptations. We had to take into consideration the need to match the new plastic valves with the existing couplers in the market, and Dispack's desire to preserve the handling & safety requirements especially by integration of a pioneering internal pressure relief safety feature.”

The manufacturers said the keg, with its special top and bottom rings made by Quadrant CMS, had been designed so that it can be handled vertically and horizontally without the need for a supplementary protective cover.