MARKET STUDY | NEWS
PTI reviews single-serve capsule technical requirements
The consumer demands continue to grow for single-serve capsules. The complexity of the capsule may not be easily apparent and should not be considered a “simple” package. PTI’s recent research base lined the materials being used, the structures they were assembled into, the resulting barrier (oxygen, water vapour transmission rates) attributes and the impact on taste to produce comprehensive analysis on the package type. The data reviews requirements, which may start with an iconic design to build brand equity. This iconic shape will be directly interacting with the dispensing appliance, so this design must be intuitive enough to make the consumer experience as simple and pleasurable as possible. Once in the appliance this
“package” becomes an integral element of the appliance itself. Even in the less sophisticated systems the capsule will have at least one or two functions like filtration, opening, dispensing. In more advanced systems, the capsule will trigger the opening process, create the right amount of foam or crema, communicate with the appliance about the contents, adapt to pressure and temperature, provide proper dissolution or mixing. This list of functions and requirements has grown
with every new system created for different applications over the years. We get excited about all these possibilities of the next state-of-the-art system. However, reality sets in and we must focus on the primary function of the package, which is to dispense and protect the contents. Since the contents are a food product, protection is the primary factor and if we fail at this there is no need to talk about sustainability benefits or cost. PTI’s research found that that the Barrier Improvement Factor (BIF) varied as much as 380 times across the 18 capsule samples tested (the capsules selected represent most of the major commercially available systems). This is significant since, due to the small size of the package, the barrier requirements are more
About PTI
Plastic Technologies, Inc. (PTI) is recognised worldwide as the preferred source for preform and package design, package development, rapid prototyping, pre-production prototyping, and material evaluation engineering for the plastic packaging industry. For further information, contact Thierry Fabozzi, President and CEO, tel: +1 419 867 5403, email:
t.fabozzi@pti-usa.com
challenging. We are talking about a package dimension of 12-55 cm³. The ratio of volume to surface is critical and the material/barrier used for the capsule should be at a 3-4 times lower permeation rate, to overcome the poor area to volume ratio. The other significant finding from
the research is that the way in which the capsule’s individual structural components are assembled to create the final container also impacts barrier characteristics. The PTI’s research also details oxygen and water vapour permeation, overall dimensions, minimum wall thickness, 3D scan to determine active barrier surface, manufacturing process, layer-structure analysis and summary mapping were characteristics reviewed for each coffee capsule type.
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