Juice
Passion Fruit Juice: From Tin Cans and Double Sterilisation to a 220L Aseptic Bag in Drum
The Challenge
Passion fruit juice carries heavy aroma and high acidity — a classic heat-sensitive juice, where long thermal exposure takes aroma and vitamin C down with it.
The traditional route is pasteurisation into tin cans, sealed, then a second sterilisation in a retort — two heat passes stacked on top of each other.
The juice's acidity slowly attacks the tin can's internal lacquer, capping shelf life at a few months.
For raw-material supply in bulk (juice or concentrate), tin cans also bring washing, can returns and storage footprint problems.
What We Did
- Sterilisation: a coil-type UHT unit treats the product as a thin film — sterilisation takes seconds, followed by immediate cooling. Vacuum deaeration ahead of filling strips dissolved oxygen, bringing both heat load and oxygen load down.
- Packaging: 5L–220L aseptic bags in metallised high barrier film (PE/VMPET/PE+PE, OTR<1); where aroma and vitamin C retention matter most this upgrades to QC Packaging's ConstBarrier film (OTR<0.3, humidity-independent). A fitment is welded into the bag and valve fitments are selected to suit the filling method.
- Filling: the aseptic filler runs on sealed piping with no intermediate storage. Twin filling heads alternate — one filling while the other stages the next bag — and the fitment is clamped, sterilised, opened, filled and closed inside a fully enclosed sterile chamber.
- Bulk format: a 220L (55 gallon) aseptic bag in drum liner for raw-material transfer or export from the growing region, with carton or drum support for handling and stacking — specified as a food grade aseptic drum liner in multi-ply LLDPE/MPET film, with 1", 2" or 3" fitments.
- The process route is proven in the industry (large-format aseptic filling replacing imported lines): no post-fill sterilisation, ambient storage, shelf life of around one year.
The Result
- ✓No second sterilisation, ambient storage, shelf life extended from a few months to around a year, with aroma and colour retained.
- ✓No can washing, can returns or internal lacquer corrosion — and lower storage and freight cost for bulk raw-material packaging.
- ✓QC Packaging's side of the match: 5L–220L aseptic bags, high barrier and ConstBarrier films, high barrier aseptic drum liners, plus matching fitments and filling support — confirmed item by item against the customer's sterilisation process and line conditions.
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