BeverageCans

Beverage Cans

In the United States, beverage cans are most often made of aluminum. This aluminum is widely available, affordable, lightweight and easy to shape. Since it is far more cost effective to recycle aluminum beverage cans than to extract the raw aluminum from its ores, they are the most recycled of all beverage packages.

In today's dynamic beverage can industry, the printing process has become so advanced that some can manufacturers can print almost as well on cans as they can on paper labels. This has made the aluminum beverage can a more popular choice than ever for beverage manufacturers.

Sleek beverage cans, are becoming increasingly popular and utilize innovative shapes to attract consumer attention. The latest technologies in custom beverage cans allow for the production of asymmetrical designs with fine detail and significant expansion capability, and are available in many different shapes and sizes. An aluminum beverage can has an internal coating to prevent the contents from directly contacting the aluminum thereby maintaining the integrity of the beverage.

A brief description of the beverage canning process:

Beverage canning begins by treating and filtering water to meet stringent quality control standards that exceed the quality of the local water supply. Achieving this high quality of water is a critical step that ensures consistent taste profiles of the finished products. Once treated, piping the water into stainless steel tanks of varying sizes facilitates usage during different stages of the bottling process.

During the next stage of beverage bottling, the addition of various ingredients to the syrup occurs in batching tanks (smaller holding tanks). The syrup can include ingredients such as the liquid sugars fructose or sucrose, non-nutritive sweeteners such as aspartame or saccharin, color, flavors, nutraceuticals (such as amino acids), preservatives, as well as a host of other ingredients. Once the syrup is ready, it mixes with more water in larger tanks, where it creates a finished solution. If the beverage container is to contain a carbonated product, the solution first cools using large, ammonia-based refrigeration systems. Carbonation, or the infusion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into a liquid, is what gives carbonated beverages their effervescence and texture. CO2 is stored in a liquid state and piped into carbonation units as needed. This beverage bottling process controls the required rate of CO2 absorption into the product. Beverages may contain from 15 to 75 psi of CO2. Fruit-flavored soft drinks tend to have less carbonation than colas or sparkling water. Once carbonated, the beverage is ready to be bottled.

The filling room usually separate from the rest of the facility, protects the open product from any possible contaminants that may occur during bottling. This highly automated operation requires a minimal number of personnel. Filling room operators monitor the equipment for efficiency, adding any required ingredients during the beverage bottling process. The filling machine automatically receives empty beverage bottles via bulk material-handling equipment.

Once the beverage bottles are full, they are shrink-wrapped. The finished case is palletized, plastic-wrapped, and is now ready for shipping.