A coating for soda cans

Soda cans are generally made of steel and aluminum. The producer adds a coating to the inside and the outside. Not only to give the can a flashy appearance and to make it more sustainable, but also to ensure that the soft drink does not have a metallic taste.

High demands of soft drink products

Soft drink producers place high demands on the quality of the coating. For example, the protective layer must not contain any irregularities to prevent the coating from peeling off. Yet that is exactly what happened at a producer of coatings for, among others, the food and beverage industry, which two years ago called on the knowledge and expertise of the specialists of BÈTA industrie.

Too many imperfections in coating

The manufacturer's customer discovered that there were too many irregularities in the coating on the inside of the cans. Millions of cans had to be destroyed. Together with Sjoerd Scholte, co-owner of BÈTA industrie, the coating producer eventually managed to find the cause of the problem.

Initially, the coating manufacturer thought that the irregularities were caused by incorrectly selected cups under the filter cartridges. “After a visit to the factory, we soon found out that this was not the issue”, explains Scholte.

Filter houses under the microscope

Sjoerd Scholte carefully examined all filter houses in which the filter cartridges are located. And what turned out? The bottom plates of the filter housings were bent. This caused the liquid used to produce the coating to pass through the cartridge filter rather than through it. This led to irregularities in the coating on the inside of the soft drink cans.

The solution? All filter houses, 1.5 meters high and 50 centimeters wide, have been expanded one by one to have a new bottom plate welded in. The result? A perfectly smooth and tight coating that fully meets the specifications of the producer and the customer.

Switch to other filter cartridges

The coating manufacturer was impressed with the result. That is why Scholte also looked at the other filter cartridges that the company uses in its filtration processes. Initially, the producer used nominal filter cartridges for part of the process, but on the advice of BÈTA industrie, the company switched to an alternative.

These so-called 'absolute' filter cartridges are suitable for liquids that are tested according to the so-called Beta Ratio 5000. Most cartridge filter manufacturers use this internationally recognized test method to express the accuracy of a cartridge filter. It means that only one of the five thousand particles of the investigated size is allowed to pass through the filter during such a test.

Filtration processes closely examined

“Over the past two years, we have carefully examined all filtration processes and the filters used,” says Scholte. “And now I still go to the factory once or twice a month to optimize the filter processes. Partly due to the varying quality of the raw materials supplied for the coatings production, it is essential to regularly check whether the company is using the right filters.”

Are you also curious about what our filtration options can mean for your processes? Then contact us! Our specialists will gladly assist you. You can easily contact us by telephone on +31 79 341 55 18 or simply via the button below!