- Shelf-life equal to stainless steel kegs
- Valve system made from glass reinforced polyamide
- Four different valve versions for highest compatibility
Dispack Projects and Quadrant CMS (Quadrant Creative Molding & Systems) have developed a new one-way PET beer keg with a recyclable valve system as a cost-effective and easy-to-transport alternative to traditional multi-trip stainless steel kegs. The one-way Dolium 20- and 30-liter kegs incorporate valve systems injection molded in glass reinforced polyamide, as well as protective, stability-adding external keg rings for improved handling and storage.
Cost-effective option for the beer industry
To develop a cost-effective and more environmental friendly option for the beer industry, Dispack’s founder Albert Wauters, draught and keg expert, had to ensure that product integrity, food safety regulations and an extensive list of performance requirements would be met by the keg and its various accessories, including an integrated pressure relief valve system. At the same time, priority was also given to limiting the operational impact versus the traditional keg by achieving compatibility with existing filling lines and draught equipment.
In line with these factors, the two companies chose the market’s four most popular metal valves and their corresponding couplers as the main reference points for the development.
Valve system made from glass reinforced polyamide
For the final Dolium PET kegs, the two companies developed new valves in four different versions that can be used with the most common couplers on the market for connecting kegs to draft dispensing systems. Particular attention was given to accommodating Dolium’s plastic valves to the variations in tolerance of the metal couplers from different manufacturers. The system uses glass reinforced polyamide.
The development of the one-way beer kegs involved extensive use of computer-aided design and engineering, as well as production of rapid prototypes. Final testing of the accompanying top and bottom handling rings as well as the valve system and the safety pressure relief valve have been carried out on parts made on single-cavity prototype molds before final multi-cavity molds were built.
Additional advantages over existing one-way PET
According to the companies, the Dolium beer kegs offer additional advantages over existing one-way PET versions available on the market. Offering the four variants of the plastic valve systems for example, customers have no need to investment in modifications for the filling of the kegs or for connecting them to the draft systems.
Quadrant CMS and Dispack Projects’ Dolium one-way PET beer keg system.
Kegs are stackable, and can be handled in vertical and horizontal way
The keg, with its special top and bottom rings made by Quadrant CMS, has been designed so that it can be handled in vertical and horizontal way without the need for a supplementary protective cover. The rings make the keg stackable and ensure that it is protected during handling.
Albert Wauters, founder of Dispack and inventor of Dolium one-way beer keg design, adds: “Dolium one-way PET kegs offer several important advantages over the multi-trip stainless steel version. Confirming the Dolium shelf-life equal to stainless steel kegs, brewers can avoid huge capital investments in pools of metal kegs that have a very low yearly rotation, especially in use on long distance. By optimizing the outbound shipment, efficient geometry replacing the stainless steel weight by more product, and by avoiding long distance return transport, we skip important transport costs as well as the excessive energy consumption of empty stainless steel kegs, Together with the 100% recyclability of the Dolium one-way kegs, this results in better environmental performance.”
