Bottles of alcohol can be found everywhere in the market. However, the defect of using bottles as packaging container is obvious: taking up much space in storing while the volumn of liquid is relatively less. In this case, the transportation fee, the storage fee is increased. If there is a packaging, which can not only storing alcohol in a hermetically-sealed condition, but also saving space, nothing can be much perfect.

For bottles of alcohol, the commonly used material is glass, ceramic or earthen jar for a less permeability, stronger corrosion resistance and better leak tightness so that a longer shelf life can be guaranteed. However, the defects of solid container are unavoidable:

A.      Crispy and fragile.

B.      Taking up space and not portable, heavy

C.      High cost but only one-time used

D.     Not environmentally-friendly

Flexible packaging, as long as perfect leak tightness can be ensured, all defects of solid containers can be avoided. Though so far the majority of alcohol manufacturers still choose solid containers as alcohol packaging, we believe flexible packaging will take place of bottle along with development in foreseeable future.

Features of printed flexible alcohol packaging:

A. High barrier property for preserving taste and aroma, airproof, waterproof and solvent-proof.

B. Made with multi-layer substrates. So that the pouch body is soft and flexible, even squeezable. Flexible packaging utilizes less space than bottles.

C. Lower manufacturing cost.

D. Various shapes, dimensions and material constructionscan be chosen and custom-made. Volumn from 100ml to 3L pouches can be made which leads a more convenient usage.

To sum up, according to the features of flexible packaging, we presume that this new type of packaging for alcohol industry will be boosted and widely used in market.

The main ingredient of alcohol is ethylalcohol which is with strong corrosiveness and permeability. As the flexible pouch is made with multi-layers substrates, the strong corrosiveness of ethylalcohol may lead the laminating layers seperated even destroied, which may have bad effects on the alcohol, for example, losing the aroma, decreasing the alcohol content even worsening the taste. Therefore, to choose the right materials inccluding layers, adhesive and ink for making flexible printed alcohol packaging is essencial.

Guidelines of choosing laminating layers

A.      The exterior layer (printing layer)

To enhance the barrier property of the pouch, we recommend to use BOPET, BOPA or KPET, KPA as the exterior material for a better preservation of aroma. PVDC coating material is not suitable as the color will turn pale after a long time storage. So if the quality of packaging is strictly required, to use PVDC coating material as exterior layer is not recommedned.

B.      Interior layer (heatsealing layer)

The commonly used interior layer of flexible packaging is PE film and CPP film. But for the case of alcohol flexible packaging is different because it is made by automatic packaging machine which requires a higher demand on the heatsealing layer. First of all, the heatsealing layer should be chosen considering in following aspects for suitability of heatsealing: heatsealing strength, heatsealing in low tempreture, heatsealing pollution resistance, ranges of heatsealing tempreture and thermal viscosity etc. Secondly, the suitablity of laminating. Thirdly, the surface of heatsealing layer must fit for the friction coefficient

1. Suitable heatsealing strength and range of heatsealing tempreture

Compared PE film with CPP film, PE is soft, fits for wider heatsealing tempreture, can be heatsealed in lower tempreture. Meanwhile, CPP is crispy, can only be heatsealed in high tempreture. In this case, to choose PE film rather than CPP is more suitable for flexible pouch for alcohol.

2. Heatsealing pollution resistance and heatsealing in low tempreture

The pouch made by common PE may lead to leaking because the requirement of heatsealing is rigorous. For ensuring a better and stable performance, we recommend to choose modified PE such as MPE. MPE performances better in heatsealing pollution resistance, less affcted by alocohol, with more flexible strength and in high transparency.

3. Suitablity of laminating and suitablity for automatic packaging machine

In order to meet the demand of automatic packaging machine, co-extrusion way to make PE is more frequently used considering a better suitablity of lamiantion layer.