Touching StarLite… Sidel launches PET bottle base

The bottle base uses two patented design innovations, Edge Beam (a disc structure that reinforces base stiffness) and Smart Disc (a disc structure that reinforces the base to prevent deformation).

Vincent Le Guen, VP for Packaging & Tooling at Sidel, said: “The new…base enables beverage producers to both reduce package weight and blowing pressure, and actually increase base resistance to deformation.​

“When combined with select other Sidel services, we can achieve significant energy and cost savings on new or existing production lines.”​

Bottlers save money…​

Sidel said that StarLite could help bottlers save up to 1g of PET for a 0.5 liter bottle or 2g for a 1.5l bottle, while nitrogen drop technology – whereby a small drop of liquid nitrogen is injected into a bottle before capping, to increase bottle stiffness – further increased light-weighting opportunities.

The company claims a bottler could achieve a €350,000/year cost saving using StarLite for 0.5-1-liter bottles and €700000 for 1.5-liter bottles, presuming they were using a Sidel SBO 20 Universal S2 machine running at 6000 production hours per year and PET at €1600/ton.

Further cost savings of up to €90000 are possible for 0.5-1-liter bottles, Sidel claims, given that only 16-20 bars of pressure are required for blowing, versus up to 25 bars previously.

Design can be retrofitted​

The French company says that StarLite can be used across all its blow-molding platforms and regular, ultra clean and aseptic, and can be retrofitted into existing production lines using base moulds.

In developing the solution Sidel said its experts looked at different base designs to achieve optimal strength, then carried out computer simulations as well as real-world physical tests.

The tests showed that the StarLite design had up to 30% better top-load dent resistance when the bottle was on a pallet, and an up to 55% increase in side-load resistance – a particular advantage when the bottle is on a conveyer or in a vending machine.

Overall pallet integrity also increased by up to 50% during transportation, and the base had better resistance to extreme hot or cold temperatures.

Bottles using up lasted up to 25 days without deformation in 50C conditions, while there was a 50% decrease in base rollout under frozen conditions.