Amorphous Carbon Treatment Internal Surface

Sidel, a French company, has developed the Actis plasma process that coats the inside of PET bottles with a 0.15 micron thick layer of amorphous carbon to improve oxygen and carbon dioxide barrier. Actis stands for Amorphous Carbon Treatment on Internal Surface. The carbon is deposited from acetylene gas, using a microwave-assisted process to excite the gas into plasma. The bottles are clear, and the process is reported to increase the carbon dioxide barrier of beer bottles by up to seven times, while not interfering with recycling. Actis has been approved by FDA, and is reported to cost 20 to 25 percent less than multilayer PET bottles with comparable barrier properties [10], Sidel has also developed Actis Lite a lower level of treatment for carbonated soft drink bottles, sparkling waters, juices, teas, and sauces, which do not require as good a barrier as beers and ciders. 

The process is called ACTIS (Amorphous Carbon Treatment on Internal Surface). It consists of coating the internal surface of a standard single-layer PET bottle with a layer of highly hydrogenated amorphous carbon, obtained from food gas in its plasma state. The coating creates a thin (about 0.1 pm thick) barrier inside the bottle. The food safety quality has been approved by the Dutch standards authority (which is also accredited to the European Union), and the coated bottle is 100% recyclable. 

The Amorphous Carbon Treatment on Internal Surface (ACTIS) coating, developed by the French company Sidel, is a thin layer of hydrogen rich carbon deposited by plasma polymerization of acetylene on the inside wall of a PET hottle. This barrier solution is designed for small-size PET containers (less... 

Carbon also is produced and used in other forms namely, activated carbon, carbon black, and coke, that have many commercial applications. Structurally they are amorphous forms of carbon belonging to the graphites. Activated carbon or activated charcoal has a highly porous honeycomb-like internal structure and adsorbs many gases, vapors, and colloidal solids over its very large internal surface area. Some of its major applications include purification of water and air, air analysis, waste treatment, removal of subur dioxide from stack gases, and decolorization of sugar. 

In activated carbons a high internal porosity is formed by removal of much of the amorphous carbon by elevated temperature treatment, leading to a carbon material with a very high surface area (13). 

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