Constar to launch monolayer PET scavenger

Leading supplier of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) containers for food and beverages Constar, is launching a scavenging technology for use with monolayer PET packaging. The technology works by blending Constar’s existing oxygen scavenger, named Oxbar, directly into single layer PET. The technology has been under development for over four years and is due to be launched this month. Constar declined to name the US food manufacturer adopting the technology but did reveal that it will be used in PET food containers across the US.

Nicola Faccioli, business development director at Constar, Italy, confirmed there are also plans to launch the product in Europe: ‘We are still undergoing the laboratory phase in Europe, but this should end shortly. Trials are ongoing with several food and beverage manufacturers and I would expect to see products using this technology in the European markets by the end of the summer.’

Faccioli also hinted that future applications could include fruit juice packaging and meat tray preforms. Constar attributes the high levels of interest received to the marketability and performance of the monolayer scavenger. Conventional multi-layer PET structures comprise of two layers of barrier material and one layer of PET. Unlike in Constar’s technology, the layer of PET has no integrated scavenger and, in its raw state, is full of oxygen. It is claimed this oxygen can affect the product in the filling line, before the scavenging layers begin to work.