The aim of this study was to analyse the environmental profile
of the most important processing and filling systems for high acid
beverages packaged in PET bottle, via LCA methodology.
In particular, hot filling systems and aseptic packaging systems
were investigated, as nowadays they are the systems most widely
adopted to package high acid beverages with extended shelf life.
Since this was a comparative analysis, only materials and processes
that differ between the two technologies were included,
i.e. heat treatment, filling operations, and packaging materials.
The results indicated that, considering the processing stage, aseptic
packaging systems have higher impacts in Terrestrial acidification,
Freshwater eutrophication, Marine eutrophication, Particulate
matter formation, Ionising radiation and Metal depletion, while
hot filling systems appeared to be more impactful in the nine
remaining categories.
These conclusions change if packaging materials are included in
the analysis. In fact, when the product is hot filled a heavier PET
bottle is required. In this analysis 24 g and 16 g PET bottles were