Systech Illinois Oxygen Permeation Analysers Measure Oxygen Transmission Rate on PET Bottle Caps

Thame, United Kingdom, June 24, 2014 --(PR.com)-- Oxygen, the life giving gas in the atmosphere, has potential to destroy aroma, vitamin C and the taste of many different beverages.

While the packaging material of PET bottles is down gauged year by year, the barrier properties are being improved in order to extend the product’s shelf life, despite the fact that the overall material content is being significantly reduced. As the packages become more sophisticated it is recommended to analyse areas of a package separately in order to understand where oxygen permeation occurs. Although caps and closures equate to only 0.5% to 6% of the total package, it is worthwhile to check their contribution to any oxygen ingress.

There are several challenging tasks that bottle caps need to perform:

It should be easy to open
It must be tamper proof
It must be tight under all conditions for transportation and storage
Its integration into the complete package

Oxygen permeation testing is a well-established method to test the barrier properties of films and packages.

Systech Illinois' leading oxygen permeation analysers are capable of testing the oxygen barrier properties of packages with a detection threshold of 4E-05 cm³/pack a day. Several different packages from various supermarket shelves have been used for testing. The oxygen transmission rates for the closures have been measured in the range between 0,25 and 0,01 cm³/cap day.

Systech Illinois have performed permeation tests in order to separate the contribution of the closure from the total oxygen transmission of the complete package.

More information about Systech Illinois and their extensive range of analysis instruments, products and services can be found on the Systech website at www.systechillinois.com or contact us on +1 815 344 6212 (N. & S. America and Canada) +44 1844 216838 (EMEA).

About Systech Illinois
Systech Illinois specialises in online, portable and laboratory gas analysis equipment. With 30 years as one of the leading experts in gas and moisture measurement, Systech Illinois' application and technology knowledge provides efficient gas analysis solutions in many industry sectors worldwide.

For the packaging industry, Systech’s oxygen permeation and water vapor permeation analyzers offer testing of all packaging film, finished package and PET bottles. Systech’s headspace range provides fast, easy to use, accurate gas analysis of gas flushed food packages and headspace analysis of food and pharmaceutical packaging.

For the process industry, Systech offer a wide range of gas analysis solutions including measurement of moisture, oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and many other gases. In addition, Systech manufacture intrinsically safe units for use in hazardous areas.

Systech Illinois is a multinational company with offices and gas analysis equipment manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and the UK. Systech is very proud of its well developed and well trained workforce, which enables it to offer customers a continuing high level of service, and become known globally as a leading supplier of gas analysis instrumentation.