To meet the growing demand on the Chinese market for these special beer containers in the long term, the system has been specially designed to cater for the requirements of customer Tsingtao Brewery Group.
In Germany, only 10% of all beer sold goes to the consumer in cans. In China, the most heavily populated state in the world, this figure is already at around 18%. Big cans or party kegs in particular are proving increasingly popular both for private consumption and in some restaurants, where they can be ordered at the table by guests.
So that the Tsingtao Brewery Group can meet the growing demand for these sizeable containers, it recently ordered a turnkey filling line for party cans from its long-term partner for filling systems, KHS GmbH. The Dortmund filling and packaging professional specially configured a fully automatic filling line with a capacity of up to 400 party cans per hour to cater to the needs of the Chinese market and Tsingtao Brewery. (Tsingtao is one of the most popular and traditional beer brands in China.) KHS developed a system equipped with four filling stations according to Tsingtao's request for modern technology and flexibility.
The KHS Innokeg Multibloc F is a fully automatic filler which can be incorporated into any system concept without difficulty. Up to seven independently operating filling stations achieve a production capacity of up to 700 containers per hour. The spectrum here ranges from 3- to 10-liter cans and party kegs to large bottles. The system capacity can be expanded at will by installing parallel formations. The machine at Tsingtao fills premium Augerta beer into 5-liter cans with and without CO2 cartridges. In the future the line will also be able to fill 3-liter party cans.
The Chinese brewery group already operates very successfully on KHS filling technology; the group's KHS machines fill between 36,000 and 72,000 cans per hour holding 330 and 500 milliliters. On the new line Tsingtao profits in particular from the low CO2 consumption of the filler of less than 720 grams per hectoliter.