Oxygen scavenging screw caps for beer in PET

The world market for beer filled in PET bottles and closed by plastic screw caps is steadily growing. Starting some years back in Germany several countries, mainly in Eastern Europe, have meanwhile introduced beer in PET bottles.
Beer as an oxygen sensitive product challenges the PET bottle and the closure with respect to oxygen transmission. Packing high quality beer in PET bottles requires barrier properties for the bottles and oxygen scavenging properties for the closure to absorb oxygen in the headspace on the one side and to avoid ingress of oxygen on the other side.
Especially for the beer market, closure manufacturer Bericap has developed a crown cork design, which looks very similar to the traditional beer crown cork, and therefore keeps the product integrity of beer, but is equipped with an oxygen scavenger that absorbs the oxygen in the headspace of the bottle to help secure the quality of the beer during its shelf life.
The DoubleSeal SuperShorty Crown O2 scavenger closure for neck PCO 1881 for beer in PET barrier bottles was first introduced in Germany then other European markets. It is now being used in China through a joint venture between Martens China, FEG and Suntory from Japan.

1 January 2010 - Felicity Murray