A pre-wash system significantly improves the cleaning performance of bottle washers, its manufacturer claims. Bottle washers are one of the most cost-intensive pieces of equipment in a line, so their resistance to malfunctions & efficiency are vital considerations for plant managers. A line processing 60,000/bph, with 1g of dirt/b will produce 60 kg an hour, which with a weekly constant running time of 150h adds up to 9/t. Krones, based in Germany, has developed a new pre-soak concept, which the firm says can clean a high volume of returnable bottles. The debris can consist of sand, beverage residues, crowns, cigarette ends, glass fragments & bits of dress. Mechanical systems, such as sieving-conveyor removal systems or rotating cullet scrapers, are susceptible to malfunctions & are difficult to clean/maintain, claims Krones.
