All the buzz at interpack 2014, the KlearCan from Kortec Inc. is a 3-layer PP/EVOH/PP can designed with a special footed base that flexes, allowing it to withstand the pressures of retorting. Designed to be a drop-in replacement for metal food cans, KlearCan requires virtually no modifications to existing filling/seaming/labeling operations at the brand owner level.

With contact clarity, the co-injected package showcases the product inside and offers food manufacturers a point of differentiation on shelf while providing from two to five years shelf life.

Read more about the technical details in an article in the U.K. magazine Plastics in Packaging, written by editor Steven Pacitti, who is a fellow member of the Intl. Packaging Press Organisation (IPPO).

In an exclusive interview at interpack with Russell Bennett, Kortec vp of sales and marketing, Packaging Digest asked the obvious questions, along with some tough ones, too.

Why develop a retortable plastic can?

Bennett: We’re a machine manufacturer that manufactures co-injection technology that allows you to have a 3-layer structure within a rigid plastic container. Up to around three to four years ago, pretty much all of our business was in PET bottles. We were extending the shelf life of products like beer, ketchup, tea, juices by stopping carbon dioxide from leaving the package or by stopping oxygen from going into the package. But we were pretty much exclusively in [barrier] PET.

We tried to think about diversifying the company a little bit and one of the things we noted was that PET was not usable in the food space. That’s primarily due to the fact that PET will not withstand the temperatures that are required during the retort processing of food—whereas polypropylene will. Kortec had done limited work with PP; we knew we could use it.

So we did some primary market research with a company called Birch Grove, who are based in Michigan in the U.S. What they did for us was reach out to a number of different kind of folks along the supply chain, including brand owners, to find out if a plastic food packaging for shelf-stable products was available and what would it look like.

Two clear messages came back. The first one was “We’d like it to be clear so that the consumer can see our product to differentiate our product from some other lower-quality product in the marketplace.”

The second thing they wanted was “We’d like it to look like a can because consumers associate the can with food safety”—which sounds a little bit odd, but basically the way in which people apparently operate and buy cans is for later on. You don’t buy them for tonight’s meal so much. You buy them for later on so that if you need something…a can of soup…

From the pantry…

Bennett: Exactly. Or some friends stop by unexpectedly, you’ve got something in the pantry.

It’s a little bit different in certain areas. So things like vegetables, like beans and so on, sometimes are purchased for that night’s meal but generally it’s something in the pantry.

For stock…

Bennett: Exactly. And that kind of concept goes against the clear concept because consumers associate clarity with fresh. So, now, we’ve kind of combined clarity with a can shape and we believe we’ve created something which gives the best of both worlds. So you’ve got something which the consumer will regard as relatively fresh but also will regard as food safe and something you can put in the pantry for use at a later date.

Why now?

Bennett: We’re introducing the KlearCan here at interpack. It’s the first time we’ve shown it anywhere. It is a patented technology and we’ve trademarked the name. Basically, it’s the combination of a lot of development work that we’ve been doing since the market research. Now is the time when we’re ready to bring the product to the marketplace. It did take quite a bit of development to make something which would withstand the pressure changes associated with retort packaging.

It is PP?

Bennett: Yes. All of Kortec’s technology…we take two polymers and make a 3-layer structure. For this particular package, it’s PP/EVOH/PP. The PP is on the inside and outside—it’s the PP that comes into contact with the food. The EVOH provides the barrier. Depending upon how much EVOH we put it, will depend on how much shelf life you get because that’s what stops the oxygen from getting in.

It’s not a perfect barrier—few polymers are. You put more in, you get longer shelf life. Based on our studies and studies done by our partner, Kuraray, who are the EVOH supplier, we think we can get between two and five years, after retort.

You can’t use PET. You need to use PP for these high retort temperatures. The industry standard is 121-degrees C.

How are you getting the clarity? It looks like contact clarity. Are you using some kind of clarifier?

Bennett: The PP does have a clarifier in it—just a standard grade that we buy as a clarified PP. It’s not a special grade. We’re not working with anybody special; we just selected the best grades from various suppliers.

Why is this a good time to introduce a plastic food can to the market?

Bennett: From the market perspective, we’re seeing more and more plastic packaging entering into the marketplace. It’s a continuing trend.

The can industry has gone through a number of difficult times, particularly with the BPA [bisphenol-A] thing going on. I think that brand owners are continuously looking for new ways to differentiate their products from other products. So the time is right for a plastic can.

Are there any applications outside of food?

Bennett: The can was specifically developed so it would withstand the pressures associated with retort. It goes through a heat cycle, the pressure builds inside the can and then it gets cooled and the pressure subsides. In fact, it forms a vacuum so that the pressure becomes a negative pressure at that point. The can must be able to flex and move during that process. We spent a lot of time getting a can that has the right structure and the right design to withstand that without going to a deformed state, called paneling. That’s where a round container kind of squares itself off.

With the specific design that we have, we’ve been able to avoid paneling during the retorting and cooling process.

Is this a three-piece can?

Bennett: It’s a two-piece can, injection molded. Everything below the closure is injection molded. That’s what Kortec’s technology produces. This is what the manufacturer will sell to the canner or brand owner. Everything else with this is standard in the industry. The filling machines, the seaming machines to seam the end on, the retorting process and all distribution is just standard. This just slots straight into the current distribution string.

With little or no modification on the packaging line?

Bennett: Really, there is pretty much none. But I’ll clarify my comment. With plastic and metal double seaming, we had to develop a particular shape to the flange here and we also had to develop a chuck and roll set which gave a good double seam. We used a very experienced consultant from the can industry to help us with that process. What he developed was a well-balanced double seam.

You have a can end and you have the can body. This is called a double seam because there is one fold, two folds of metals. This is done by a rolling process. The rolls push the metal around and in, to form the double seam.

One of the features you’re touting is low cost. How does this compare to a metal can?

Bennett: We’re not that familiar with the market price of metal cans. We don’t buy cans. I asked several can makers how much their cans are and they are really not prepared to discuss that.

Volumes…it all depends.

Bennett: Yes, it all depends. Based on what information we have been able to gather from various brand owners and others in the market, we believe we are at least at parity. We also believe we could be 10 and 15 percent lower than the current can.

There are some other things to consider in all this, too. Injection molding is a relatively flexible process, unlike can making. Can making generally is done in very large plants to produce huge volumes of cans. Injection molding can be done with a relatively small machine much closer to where the can is being used. I would envisage there is some savings around the storage and distribution of cans, also. It’s not simply just a question of material costs.

I would imagine there is a definite weight savings.

Bennett: Yes. But if you can avoid shipping, the weight doesn’t make much difference. Manufacturing containers, storing them and shipping them where they get stored again is very capital intensive. Nobody really wants to do that. Whereas, what I see is…not everywhere, but in areas where there are a lot of fruits and vegetables being produced…

California…

Bennett: Yes. I could imagine that a plant in California could produce the cans, ship them out the next day and they could be filled the next. It could be very, very fast with very limited requirement for storage.

In looking at the efficiency angle, do the cans nest or does the design prevent nesting?

Bennett: The cans themselves as they are today do not nest because we’re trying to produce a plastic can that looks like a metal can as much as we could—so the same shape. They could be made to nest; it’s only a question of the mold. Just like a coffee cup, they could be made in that shape and they could nest. That would save a lot in terms of logistics. The downside of that may be that they don’t look quite like a can and don’t achieve that kind of safety aspect that the industry was looking for.

As well as not be a drop-in for existing can lines.

Bennett: Right. But we’d have to look at that. You may need to make some modifications in order to do that. It depends on how much of a draft you put on the design.

So the structure of the can is not what allows it to withstand the retort? It’s the material?

Bennett: No, it is a design thing. Primarily, it’s in the base. We have a false base that does two things. The first thing is it makes it very stable. And they’re stackable. Those are key advantages.

But inside the base, there is a false foot and a recessed base. This base took an awful lot of effort to get right. What it does, is during the heating and cooling process, it flexes inwards and outwards. It was exactly designed, engineered, so the exact pressures inside this can are compensated for by the flexing of this base. So the pressures inside the can don’t change a lot and that’s why it doesn’t deform. It’s patented. It took us a long time to get there. We used an external design engineering company to help. They did an awful lot of math to work that out.

The important thing is that is forms nicely, it looks uniform and it stacks.

In a lot of instances, not all, as the product goes through retort, it loses some of its attractiveness. Why put something not so attractive in a clear can?

Bennett: I wouldn’t do that. I would color the can. We show it as a clear can because we see a clear market opportunity for, particularly, fruits and vegetables. If you look at the examples we are showing here in our booth, you’ll see the pineapple chunks, the mandarin oranges, the tomatoes, the green beans—they look pretty attractive. They are nice colors and they look appetizing.

Whereas a product that’s less appetizing, dog food, for example. You wouldn’t want that in a clear can. So you would color it. This could be white, black or whatever. A brand owner, if they wanted to, could have a marketing opportunity as well with a colored can. They could also use different labeling techniques. The labels on our cans here are self-adhered labels that we put on after the can was retorted. But you could put an in-mold label in here if you wanted something that is high definition. A lot of options around [decorating].

In that respect, the benefit is still differentiation…

Bennett: Yes, differentiation.

And lightweight…

Bennett: Yes, the fact that is it lightweight. As well as the possibility that you could decentralize manufacturing to reduce the footprint of logistics today.

What about end of life?

Bennett: Good question. I don’t have a good answer this moment. But I do know that there are a lot of products in the marketplace where plastic containers with a metal closure are used today. I’m thinking primarily around the microwavable bowls of soup. There you have, usually, an aluminum end with a plastic container. To my knowledge, those are being recycled. I don’t know how and I intend to find out because a lot of people have asked me about this in the last couple of days. And I want to have a better answer than I do at the moment. I understand that those containers are recycled today. So my answer is that they will be recycled in the same way. I just don’t know how it is.

Fundamentally, steel and plastics are recyclable…provided there is a way to separate the two. I’m sure there are already some smart people doing that.