Sandia National Laboratories, a Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration lab with headquarters in Albuquerque, N.M., is using its Gamma Irradiation Facility and a team of radiation science experts to develop protocols for sterilizing the preforms without damaging the materials. Once the test tubes are produced, they must be sterilized before they can be used in test kits. The preforms also come with a screw-top cap that is tamper-proof and safely seals the tube, preventing leakage and exposure during transport. Soda bottle preforms for a 20oz Coca-Cola bottle are the perfect size to hold the long COVID-19 swab. “Coke bottlers have done what no other vialing company could do - in a few short days, they have fabricated a small, ruggedized vial from a plastic preform that does not leak, is large enough to hold any swab type, and importantly, they can make millions of tubes per week,” said Dr Luke T Daum, Longhorn Vaccine-Diagnostics.ĬOVID-19 testing kits include a swab, saline solution and a plastic tube to enclose the swab during transport. Discussions with Coca-Cola Consolidated – the largest Coca-Cola bottler in the US, which serves around 66 million consumers – confirmed that the bottle preform (the small plastic tube that is later blown into a bottle shape for beverages) ‘looked exactly like’ the test tube needed for COVID-19 testing kits.Ĭoca-Cola Consolidated provided samples of their preforms and the laboratory worked with COVID-19 testing company Longhorn Vaccine-Diagnostics to confirm that the tubes met test kit criteria.
Soda bottle preform series#
Through a series of personal connections, Coca-Cola was identified as a potential supplier. Department of Health and Human Services collaborated with Oak Ridge National Lab to identify manufacturers who could address a supply chain gap of COVID-19 test collection tubes to support the increasing testing needs. Packaging & Packing Materials, Containers.Processing Equipment & Systems, Automation, Control.Filling & Packaging Equipment & Systems.
Soda bottle preform update#
Sandia National Laboratories, a Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration lab with headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is using its Gamma Irradiation Facility and a team of radiation science experts to develop protocols for sterilizing the preforms without damaging the materials.įor an update on how the coronavirus has affected convenience services, click here. Once the test tubes are produced, sterilization is usually required before they can be used in test kits.
The soda bottle preforms also contain a screw-top cap that is tamper-proof and safely seals the tube, preventing leakage and exposure during transport. Soda bottle preforms are the perfect size to hold the long COVID-19 swab. These kits include a swab, saline solution and a plastic tube to enclose the swab during transport. Researchers at the Department of Energy's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL worked with Coca-Cola Consolidated to determine whether soda bottle preforms, which are small plastic tubes heated and blown into a bottle shape to hold carbonated beverages, can be used as test tubes in COVID-19 kits. "When the U.S Department of Health and Human Services reached out to Oak Ridge National Laboratory for assistance in finding a COVID-19 test tube solution, we considered several options to help industry scale up production," Lonnie Love, lead scientist for Oak Ridge National Laboratory's COVID-19 advanced manufacturing initiatives, said in a press release.Īt ORNL's request, Coca-Cola Consolidated, the nation's largest Coke bottler, provided samples of their preforms and the laboratory worked with COVID-19 testing company Longhorn Vaccine-Diagnostics to confirm that the tubes met test kit criteria. Utilizing several injection molding preform tools, the manufacturing cooperative has already produced over 7 million tubes for testing kits. Southeastern Container, a PET preform and bottle manufacturing cooperative funded and managed by a group of Coca-Cola bottlers, has begun producing test tubes for use in COVID-19 kits, according to a press release.
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