Bottom Up Fill Nozzles One Solution for Foamy Products

Cleaners, chemicals, beverages and many other liquid products have a tendency to foam when agitated. Probably the most common example would be a shaken bottle of pop, which almost everyone has probably been unfortunate enough to experience. When filling bottles or other containers, liquids can become agitated, and extra foam can affect the fill time or volume.

While overflow filling machines offer a solution for foamy products, not all packagers want to use a fill-to-level system for their products. For those filling by volume or using other principles, alternative solutions for foamy products do exist. One of the most common solutions for non-overflow liquid fillers is a bottom-up fill.

Bottom-up fill nozzles will dive in to the containers with each cycle that is run on the filling machine, slowly rising as product is released to the containers. Though the nozzles can be submerged, more often than not packagers do not want the outer nozzle coming in contact with the product on an extended basis. Instead, the nozzles will dive to just above the container bottom, release product, and rise to stay just above the liquid level until the desired fill is completed.

Keeping the nozzle near the level of the liquid throughout the fill reduces the agitation of the product, thereby lessening the amount of foam created during the fill process. The speed of the bottom up fill can also be adjusted to accommodate different levels of foaming, product viscosities or product flow speeds. The difference in the speed of the rise also helps with different bottle sizes and shapes. For instance, a large diameter round container may require a slower rise than a taller, skinny bottle.

While products that foam heavily may cause product to overflow even in a regular bottle or container, wide mouth containers can also benefit from a bottom up fill in that keeping the nozzle close to the liquid level prevents splattering and splashing of product out of the opening. Of course, different nozzles are always available for different applications, and other solutions for foamy products do exist. While bottom-up filling is a common solution for foamy proudcts, as with any filling project, all factors will be analyzed, including product, container, speed and more, to determine the best solution for each individual packager.

To learn more about bottom up filling, solutions for foaming or any other packaging topic, contact Liquid Packaging Solutions today, or search the News section of our website for answers to your specific packaging questions.