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Nitro Hot Fill: The Optimum Packaging Gas

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Coca-Cola India’s bottling plants are using nitrogen gas as a counter pressure gas for
increasing product shelf life. This allows for more stabilised packaging as well as a better
environmental impact. 

Why Nitro Hot Fill

Many juices, sports and ready-to- tea beverages employ conventional hot fill methods to
maintain the product shelf life and quality. Until now, special bottle designs with
vacuum compensation qualities along with a heavier-weight PET were required to
minimise the de-shaping of filled bottles. The negative pressure of the gas used to
change the shape of the bottle. These vacuum panel bottles also needed to be covered
with shrink sleeve labels to improve the aesthetics of the bottles.

How it Works 
In the Nitro Hot Fill process, liquid nitrogen is injected precisely at a predetermined
rate between the filler and the capper into each container, which pressurises the
container adding to its rigidity. Immediately after this, the bottle is capped. The nitrogen
in the bottle becomes gaseous and increases the inner pressure. In the chiller the
temperature of the hot filled beverage is lowered again. 

The nitrogen compensates for product volume shrinkage at chilling and prevents bottle
distortion with a stabilising residual pressure that remains in the bottle. Thus the bottle
is stabilised through the interior pressure and keeps its shape even when cooled down.

Why it’s the Best Solution

1. Nitro Hot Fill keeps containers stable without vacuum panels. This gives the
opportunity for a completely new product design.
2.Nitro Hot Fill enables the combination of light weighting with hot filling. This
way, material costs can be reduced significantly, doing away with high-cost
heavier panel PET bottles.
3.Hot Fill bottle blow moulds are made of steel and require hot oil circulation.
Nitro Hot Fill bottles use aluminium mould requires no hot oil circulation and
less compressed air. This results in increased station output of up to 2,000
bottles per hour and savings in energy of up to 40 per cent when compared to
the traditional hot fill process.
4.The panel-less bottles do not require special shrink sleeve labels and can be
labelled with the same label type as soft drink and water bottles, which is often
more cost effective too.
 5.During the counter pressure process the gas being used is released continuously
in the atmosphere. Use of nitrogen proves to be an environmental friendly
choice.

Not only is the use of Nitro Hot Fill a more economical process, it is also more
convenient and environment-friendly. And at Coca-Cola, we’re always about following
the most efficient processes and finding the most optimum solutions.

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