Wash of the returnable said « refillables » or bowls

Container washing concerns all so-called "returnable" or "reusable" containers, although a distinction is made between washing small-volume, bottle-type containers and those used for large-volume containers such as drums, cisterns, vats or tanks. This article therefore concerns only the washing of reusable glass or plastic bottles, jars and flasks, and sometimes metal or ceramic bottles. Bottle washing is one of the means used to ensure hygiene and consumer protection. To carry out this operation, the packager of food or other liquids will have one or more bottle washers in his workshop.

Over the years, these washers have evolved in such a way as to define a processing time of between 15 and 30 minutes through in-line organization, with production rates ranging from a few thousand bottles to over 100,000 units processed per hour today.

Whatever the size and footprint of the machine, the container processing protocol is always the same. The containers will move through the machine, housed in cells aligned on holding ramps, with a double chain moving in a closed cycle to transfer them to the various processing stations. After receiving its load of containers, the tray ramp passes through a pre-rinse station, then one or more soaking baths containing detergent solutions at defined concentrations and temperatures. Arriving at the top of the machine, the ramps are positioned above nozzles for the injection of detergent solutions, which will treat the inside wall of each container, while other injections will treat the outside wall by a trickle effect. The ramps and their cells then pass over the clear water rinsing injections, following a well-defined water use and recovery scheme designed to limit excessive water consumption. Temperatures in the soaking and injection baths are ensured by temperature exchangers located inside or outside the machine, while pumps ensure the injections.

The machine is equipped with a container infeed table, from which the containers to be washed are guided and introduced continuously, or discontinuously, into the compartments which have been previously freed from the clean bottles (which they previously held) on an evacuation chain, to the next packaging station. The machines are always equipped with label baskets designed to collect labels peeled off the containers, for easy disposal once collected.

The machine is equipped with manometers and thermometers to check that the washing operation is running smoothly, while periodic or continuous checks throughout the process maintain detergent concentrations at appropriate levels.

Container washing is an operation that emits chemical and thermal waste, which we now know how to minimize.

At the...