The American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given Schott HiCotec approval for its innovative PICVD process for barrier coating in food and beverage packaging made of PET.
The company said that the decision now opens up a whole new market potential for it in both the USA and Asia.
Used in plastic packaging, this Plasma Impulse Chemical Vapour Deposition (PICVD) coating prevents the usual exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide, thus considerably increasing the shelf life of the contents. This worldwide patented PICVD process is said to be the first to fulfil all the demands set by the packaging industry.
The extremely thin and homogenous layers made of glass-like silicon dioxide (Si02) bond particularly well and are characterized by unprecedented barrier properties. In addition, they can be applied more economically than other barrier coatings.
In the field of PET beverage packaging, Schott HiCotec has been co-operating with SIG Corpoplast, one of the world leaders in stretch blow moulding machines for PET bottles. The plan is for both companies to collaborate on the development and manufacture of machinery for producing and coating PET bottles.
SIG Corpoplast will be responsible for marketing the completed production plants as well as for after-sales service, including maintenance. In return, Schott HiCotec will make its PICVD barrier coating for the food and beverages sector available exclusively to SIG Corpoplast.
This cooperation has already led to the Plasmax 12D PICVD facility, capable of coating up to 10,000 PET bottles per hour.
"The FDA approval is crucial for our partnership with SIG Corpoplast, if we are to market these machines on an international scale", explained Frank Berger, marketing manager at Schott HiCotec. "Coated PET bottles are a real growth market - they're a favourite among consumers."
Schott is an international technology-driven group that focuses on improving living and working conditions through special materials and high-tech solutions. Its main areas of focus are the household appliances industry, optics and opto-electronics, pharmaceuticals, information technology, consumer electronics, lighting, automotive engineering and solar energy. Present in all major market, It has 19,900 employees producing worldwide sales of €2 billion euros.