Buffering & filling in soft drinks & mineral water production

The last processing stage involves the addition of carbon dioxide gas (CO2) to the beverage. The CO2 is generally added to the finished product, though it is sometimes mixed into the water at an earlier stage. The temperature of the liquid must be carefully controlled since carbon dioxide solubility increases as the liquid temperature decreases. The gas pressure used depends on the type of soft drink. For instance, fruit drinks require far lower CO2 levels than mixer drinks, such as tonics, which are meant to be diluted with other liquids. The beverage is always slightly over-pressured with carbon dioxide to account for losses during the movement into storage tanks and ultimately to the filler machine. The final production step is to fill the selected different receptacles such as bottles, cans or kegs with the beverage, in a filling machine.

The OPTIMASS 6400 Coriolis mass flowmeter by KROHNE, together with OPTIBAR pressure sensors, can also be supplied to measure and control the mass flow of carbon dioxide gas into the buffer tank, to ensure precise and economical use of the CO2 gas. The BATCHFLUX 5500 electromagnetic flowmeter and OPTIBATCH Coriolis mass flowmeter are specially configured for repeated filling operations of exact liquid quantities into cartons etc, to make a batch filling system that takes account of legislative requirements and minimised overfill.