Blow-Fill-Seal Technology
Blow-Fill-Seal Technology allows offering a useful packaging solution for numerous products in different economic areas.
Rommelag® invented aseptic Blow/Fill/Seal technology over 40 years ago and commercializes Bottelpack® machines allowing operating this technology.
Today packaging designs are so far advanced as to allow low wall thickness containers excellent collapsibility and thus eliminate the need for an air vent. BFS technology is also increasingly used in countries where the health care industry is being developed in order to serve their population with high quality products.
Twist-off closures provide consumers with a ready-to-use product and offer manufacturers a reduction in production cost since caps for reclosure are usually no longer needed. These improvements widely contributed to the development of this technology.
This packaging solution is very used in pharmaceutical sector and very appreciated by customers for its very ease of use:
- Large Volume Parenterals: I.V. Fluids
- Small Volume Parenterals: WFI & other injectables
- Eye, Ear, Nose Care Products: Multidose designs with re-closable caps & Preservative Free unit-dose ampoules for one-time applications.
- Respiratory Care Products: Preservative Free Unit-dose inhalation products.
- Other Pharmaceutical Products: Oral solutions, pharmaceutical disinfectant liquids, different types of ointments and gels, liquids for rectal or vaginal applications.
There are plastic materials available according to the FDA which are inert, do not contain additives, have low water vapour permeability and are easy and safe to handle in the hospitals. The packages are environmentally friendly and disposal or recycling is achieved without any pollution risks. The Bottelpack® technology makes production with such pure materials possible. No additional active additives are required.
On these 2 manufacturing plants located in Amiens and Coutances in France Unither operates several Bottelpack® machines which allow Unither® to reach a global capacity of 2 billion units a year. It makes the world wide leader on this technology.
BFS process
An important characteristic of the Blow-Fill-Seal Process is the sterile and pyrogen-free moulding of the bottles or ampoules directly from the extruded PE or PP in water cooled blow moulds with an immediate sterile filling of product, followed by a hermetic sealing of the container in one step and under aseptic conditions in the same machine.
The process is divided in 5 continuous steps:
Extruding: The plastic parison, extruded from polymer, is accepted by the opened blow mould and cut below the die of the parison head.
Moulding: The main mould closes and simultaneously seals the bottom. The special mandrel unit settles onto the neck area and forms the parison into a container using compressed air or vacuum.
Filling: By the way of the special mandrel unit, the product precisely measured by the dosing unit is filled into the container.
Sealing: After the special mandrel unit retracts, the head mould closes and forms the required seal by vacuum.
Moul Opening: With the opening of the blow mould, the container exits from the machine and the cycle repeats itself.
Transfer for future processing is achieved by means of a conveying system.
BFS Advantages
The high reliability of the process assures product security.
The flexible designing of the containers with integrated moulding of the head closure as well as in-mould coding allow a high degree of convenience in handling to the user.
The technology is known for a very low particulate matter production and neutrality to the filling product.
Unit-Dose
In the 1980s unit-dose ampoules for one-time applications became more and more popular and have since been widely accepted, especially in industrialized countries. This eliminates the need for preservatives in the product and reduces the risk of possible allergic reactions for patients.
Unit-dose products are easy to handle and easy to open, different twist-off opening designs have been developed by Rommelag® for this special product group.
Their monolayer material is environmentally friendly.
Example of Unit-Dose produced by Unither®
