Enhancing Carbonation Shelf Life

Co₂Sustain^® is a business that is all about creating time and cost efficiencies for both manufacturers and brands within the beverage industry. Our patented formula is proven to significantly improve carbonation shelf life through our innovative bubble technology – but what does this have to do with you?

Simply put, plastic is porous meaning that gas leakage over time is inevitable, capping carbonation shelf life for PET-packaged drinks at 12 months as a guideline; or at least until recently, that is.

If you are a bottling manufacturer or work with one as a business in beverages, then you’ll know that  plastic pollution  is an international concern that affects us all, as producers and consumers. This has triggered mounting pressure on manufacturers to reduce plastic usage and reduce their environmental impact.

Having said this, adhering to firmer restrictions mean that bottlers benefit from a substantial cost saving by using less increasingly expensive raw materials, so in all likelihood this trend isn’t going anywhere.

There is a downside to this move however, as the thinner the plastic bottle, the more porous it becomes and the quicker your carbonated beverage will lose its fizzy potency. This problem is made even worse when producing and distributing in hot climates, where refreshing drinks are in the highest demand, as the elevated temperatures exacerbate CO₂ loss.

In other words, despite saving money and resources in one area by reducing plastic usage, you are then in danger of facing new hurdles with carbonation shelf life cut shorter and wastage likely to increase.

If you were to use CO₂Sustain^® as part of the manufacturing process for your carbonated soft drinks lines, shelf life is preserved for far longer, offsetting the risk associated with the use of thinner plastic bottles.

Our liquid additive works by effectively wrapping itself around CO₂ bubbles within carbonated soft drinks before they have the chance to disproportionate, where they merge with others to form larger bubbles resulting in a loss of pressure; accelerating the rate in which gas is released into the atmosphere.

With CO₂ Sustain^®, microbubbles retain their size meaning that gas release is much better controlled. One of our South African customers noticed a four-week difference in shelf life between their product with our solution versus without – during the testing phase, they found that their drink normally lasted about 12 weeks, but with our help fizziness was maintained for 16 weeks!

One of our crowning accomplishments so far, as a business grounded in science, began with a conversation with one of our long-term customers and ended with them telling us that we weretransforming the way in which people think about carbonation, with the potential to change the game entirely.

As part of our role in driving innovating efficiencies for the beverages industry, we have been able to debunk some key misconceptions and in our own way contribute to our customer’s product development and manufacture in a positive way.

For example, adding more carbon dioxide to your liquid solution won’t make the drink fizzier because regardless of how much gas is pumped in, water can only retain a very small percentage of CO₂ in liquid form (as carbonic acid) and so the rest is bound to rapidly escape one way or another.

In case you were wondering how exactly we measure carbonation shelf life, most of the testing for takes place organoleptically, or in other words by tasting products! So luckily (or unluckily) for those doing the testing, a lot of the samples tasted have been subject to a variety of conditions, including at different temperatures and pH’s, over a set time period. The results from these tests can offer your business projections into the extent to which carbonation deterioration can be managed with CO₂Sustain^® compared to not using it and can also provide insight about the level of the value we can then add to your final product.

Extend your product’s lifespan today with CO₂Sustain^® by visiting our website www.co2sustain.com or by giving us a ring on 0113 205 0900 and let the fizzicists take the fuss out carbonated beverage manufacture!