- Aluminum bottle
An
aluminum beverage bottle, also known as a bottlecan, is a bottle made entirely of 100 percent recyclable aluminum that holds beer, soft drinks, alternative beverages and wine.History & Overview
The aluminum beverage bottle was introduced to the North American beverage industry in 2002 as an ecological alternative to plastic bottles. Hermitage, PA-based CCL Container a subsidiary of
CCL Industries , a leading producer of recyclable aluminum bottles, packaging, aerosol containers and other specialty products, started developing the bottlecan in 1989 in North America.Products
* Two Japanese brewers,
Sapporo Brewery of Tokyo andKirin Brewery Company , officially introduced the aluminum beverage bottle in 2000 in Japan.
*Pittsburgh Brewing Company was the first brewer to launch a beer product in aluminum packaging. In 2004, it introduced Iron City Premium Lager in an aluminum beverage bottle. The company shipped 20,000 cases to distribution centers in 30 states and these initial units sold out within 24 hours of hitting the shelves. A photo of the Iron City aluminum bottle was the “most viewed” photo on Yahoo! the day following its launch and it was named one of Business Week’s “Best New Products of 2004.”Fact|date=January 2008
* Alternative drink provider,Snapple , launched Mistic RE, its first energy drink, with a resealable, rocket-shaped aluminum bottle.
*Coca-Cola marketed two newPowerade brand energy drinks in bullet-shaped, screw-top aluminum bottle cans.
*Heineken introduced its H2 brand in an aluminum bottle in 2004.
*Anheuser-Busch doubled its production capacity of aluminum bottles in 2005 for its Bud Light, Budweiser, Michelob Lager, Michelob Light, Michelob ULTRA and Anheuser World Select brands. The company has also introduced limited edition bottlecans that commemorate popular holidays and sports events.
* In Japan, over two billion recloseable bottle cans are sold each year.
* Vicor International, Inc., Canada’s largest marketer of wine and spirits, and Denmark-based Absolut Spirits Company, adopted the aluminum beverage bottle for their vodka-based beverages.
* In the Dominican Republic, Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana, the Dominican National Brewing Company, moved their premium products to aluminum beverage bottles.
* Bright Brothers, a Portugal-based winery, was the first company to introduce wine in aluminum bottles.Characteristics & Advantages
The aluminum bottlecan is made of 100 percent recyclable aluminum similar to that of an aluminum beverage can. However, it is shaped similar to a traditional beverage bottle, with many designs including resealable lids. A broad range of aluminum beverage bottle profiles, styles, and configurations, are available for commercial production, including “traditional,” “oval,” and “sport shapes.”
A variety of standard finishes are available for aluminum bottlecans that are designed to work with industry standard closures and caps, in addition to standard bottle filling operations. Some traditional finishes include: 26mm standard crown cap, 38mm lug finish, 38mm continuous thread with plastic sleeve, 38mm ROPP and 28mm continuous thread finishes.
Beverage marketers choose aluminum bottlecans for many reasons, including that they are resealable, recyclable and durable. The bottle itself serves as the label and bottles can also be shaped in a variety of ways.
"Cooler Longer" Claim
A study conducted by engineering science students at
Loyola College in Maryland suggested that the liquid content of aluminum bottles stays slightly colder than the liquid content of glass bottles when allowed to warm at room temperature. [ [http://www.aluminum.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=9600 Aluminum Beverage Bottles Strong on Insulation] ] These results were not corroborated by a 2005 study atBucknell University , which found that "the fluid in the aluminum bottle cools much faster than the glass bottle, and once removed from a cold source and exposed to room temperature, the glass bottle remained cooler longer than the aluminum bottle." [ [http://aiche.confex.com/aiche/2005/techprogram/P39190.HTM Aluminum Vs. Glass... Which Beer Bottle Stays Cooler Longer?] ] This conclusion is consistent with the fact that thethermal conductivity of aluminum (237 W/(m·K)) [Wikipedia List of Thermal Conductivities] is significantly higher than that of glass (1.1 W/(m·K)) [Wikipedia List of Thermal Conductivities] . While the glass versus aluminum debate may make sense in connection with beer bottles, soft drinks are another matter. The majority of those bottles are currently plastic, while most beer bottles are glass.Fabrication
Aluminum is a silver-white, soft metal and the most abundant metallic element, comprising 1/12th of the earth's crust. It must be combined with oxygen and other elements and processed to produce the aluminum used in bottlecans. Bottlecans are made from 100 percent recyclable aluminum through either an extrusion or coil-to-can process to a wide range of shapes and sizes. They are produced with three times the aluminum of a traditional beer can, which provides for increased insulation.References
* [http://www.sunark.in Aluminum Manufacturers]
External links
* [http://www.aluminum.org/ANTemplate.cfm?IssueDate=03/01/2006&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=9773 Aluminum.org]
* [http://bottlecan.com/image_gallery.html Photos of Aluminum Bottles]
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