1. Blowing PET bottles

The manufacture of glass bottles is described in detail in . Here, we focus on the blow-moulding of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles and flasks, as this is often carried out within the same food factory that uses them, in order to integrate all production in one place and avoid having to transport bulky empty packaging.

Injection-molded preforms are held neck-high, and drop down by gravity to the feed wheel, which loads them onto a turntable chain (figure 1 ). As the spinner chain advances, the preforms rotate on their axis, moving continuously through the oven. The preforms are heated by a series of quartz infrared (IR) lamps. Ventilation cools the surface of the preforms, while the IR lamps heat their core....