ENSO Bottles - Technical Data

How do ENSO bottles compare to other products on the market?

Is the ENSO bottle permeation rate the same as PET?

Can ENSO bottles be used for hot fill and carbonated beverages?

Can customers use the regrind from ENSO bottles?

Can yellow dye and other colorants be used with ENSO bottles and EcoPure G2?

What is the manufacturing process for using ENSO bottles EcoPure G2 additive?

Are there any special handling requirement of the EcoPure G2 additive?

Does the EcoPure G2 additive impart any taste to the product contained in it?

Plastic has been around for a long time, why hasn't one of the big plastic manufacturers already offered this product?

What is the Intrinsic Viscosity of the PET used in ENSO Bottles?

How do you know ENSO bottles with EcoPure are safe?

How does EcoPure change the physical characteristics of PET?

Do ENSO bottles decrease in performance when operating at elevated temperatures?

The below table shows a comparison of ENSO biodegradable bottles to other products that are currently available to the market.

*Time requirement for degradation depends on the environment in which the materials are disposed, as types, quantity and quality of micro-organisms.

Our bottles are biodegradable in anaerobic (no oxygen, no light), aerobic (compostable) environments and can be comingled with standard PET during recycling.  The technology behind ENSO Bottles, EcoPure G2, allows our bottles to be metabolized and neutralized in the environment, turning them into inert humus (biomass), biogas (anaerobic) or Co2 (aerobic).  

The development of our bottles marks a turning point from traditional PET bottles and provides a turn-key stable solution over starch-based and other biodegradation methods currently on the market today.

ENSO Bottles maintain the same physical properties and strength as existing standard PET bottles.  No additional manufacturing equipment is needed for processing ENSO bottles.  ENSO Bottles have an indefinite shelf life and are not affected by light, heat, moisture or stress.  These attributes will last until the product is discarded into an active microbial environment (landfill), and will then break down into inert humus (biomass), Co2 or biogas. 

Yes, ENSO bottles retain the same permeation rate as traditional PET.

ENSO bottles can be used for hot fill and carbonated beverages. There is no increased heat sensitivity or permeation when compared to traditional PET.

Yes, however it is recommended to implement quality control to ensure the approved amount of material is being loaded into the resin.

Note: PLA users are unable to use PLA regrind and must send any waste back to NatureWorks for processing and credit towards future orders.  Oxo-degradable user can use oxo-degradable regrind.

Yes, there are no issues with using any colorants with EcoPure G2.  The EcoPure G2 additive may have an effect on the final color and adjustments should be made to ensure accurate final color.

If you plan for ENSO bottles to end up in a composting facility it is recommended that you use an organic, linseed or a non UV powdered base colorant.  This is recommended due to the short timeframes for biodegradation in a composting facility.

Using additive in the manufacturing process is very easy to do.  The EcoPure G2 additive is added via a standard commercial dry feeder just as you would add a colorant into the throat.  It is loaded at 1% by load weight.

Yes, always make sure to seal the unused portion of additive because it could be slightly hygroscopic.  It is also a good idea to rotate the lot every six months to ensure good quality control.

Also do not run the additive at over 600F as this has not been tested and the results cannot be guaranteed.

No, there is no known taste, flavor or smell imparted to ENSO bottles.

There were significant technological advances which were required to take place in order to create a product that was compatible with the high pressures and temperatures when stretch blow molding PET bottles. With the combined expertise of our partners we were able to overcome this hurdle and produce biodegradable bottles without sacrificing the bottle integrity or clarity.

The virgin PET resin used for ENSO preforms and bottles which are manufactured by Resilux America has an I.V. of prime @ .80. Bottles and preforms produced by other manufacturers may vary in I.V.  When EcoPure G2 additive is added to PET, the IV will increase slightly.

Keller and Heckman which is a well established and respected FDA law firm has looked at the formulation and have written both long and short letters to validate the safety of the material and verify that it is FDA approved for up to a 4% loading of EcoPure G2.

There are no noticeable changes to the PET physical characteristics such as tensile strength, glass temperature, melting temp, transition rates, etc.  Some of these values are identified in the TDS (Technical Data Sheet).  We encourage customers to perform specific tests to validate any properties they may be concerned with.

No.  Tensile strength and the physical properties are maintained even in elevated temperatures.  Temperatures that exceed the normal operating range for PET would experience the same loss of properties as standard PET.

ENSO Bottles, LLC

Phone: 1 (866)-936-3676 or 602-639-4228

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