In a ground-breaking first for the beverage carton industry, Tetra Pak® launches a filling machine that uses electron beams, not hydrogen peroxide, to sterilise packaging material. The Tetra Pak® E3, on display at the Fispal Technologia International Trade Show in São Paulo, Brazil, promises a range of benefits to customers; not least the potential to run up to 40,000 portion packages every hour. Compared with the existing Tetra Pak® A3/Speed platform, Tetra Pak E3 machines will also lower operational costs, improve environmental performance and increase production flexibility.
At the heart of the new machine is the eBeam sterilisation technology that was developed by Tetra Pak in collaboration with COMET, a world leading company in high-voltage and high-vacuum technology. The technology works by focussing a controlled beam of electrons onto the surface of packaging material as it runs through the filling machine, killing any bacteria or micro-organism present.