Consumers are familiar with beer in glass bottles and metal cans, but some may wonder why beer is seldom packaged in plastic bottles. After all, plastic bottles, such as PET monolayer bottles, are lightweight, do not break easily, and can be reclosed. The reason that PET monolayer bottles have not been used in the beer industry is partly because of their inadequate gas barrier properties. Beer's distinctive flavor is produced by a complex blend of various aromatic components. With PET monolayer bottles, however, that flavor is easily destroyed by oxygen that passes through the bottle, so it is difficult to maintain the quality of the beer. However, the introduction of coinjection techniques that use "Soarnol®" as a middle layer in the PET bottle prevents oxidation of the beer by preventing oxygen from passing through the bottle.
The oxygen barrier performance generally required for a beer bottle is 0.003cc / bottle / day / atm, while the carbon dioxide barrier performance - meaning the number of days until the carbon dioxide in the beer is reduced by 20% - is 120 days or more. Monolayer PET bottles do not reach either of these performance levels. However, when "Soarnol®" is used as a middle layer, the oxygen barrier performance is 0.002cc / bottle / day / atm and the carbon dioxide barrier performance is 300 days or more.
Enhancing intelligence is the new slogan for research & development efforts at Nippon Gohsei. These R&D efforts are now exploring further possibilities for "Soarnol®" in beer bottles.
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