Patent ID: 8518325

Claim:
A method for sterilizing a web of packaging material for packaging pourable food products, the method comprising: continuously advancing the web through sterilizing agent in a bath; advancing the web, which has advanced through the sterilizing agent, through an aseptic environment containing sterile air, the aseptic environment being divided into two regions by a channel sized to produce a difference in pressure between the two regions so that the two regions comprise a lower-pressure region and a higher-pressure region, the channel possessing a first open end opening into the higher-pressure region and a second open end opening into the lower-pressure region, the higher-pressure region possessing an interior wall, the lower-pressure region possessing an interior wall spaced from the higher-pressure region interior wall, the channel possessing a pair of opposing walls, each opposing wall extending between the lower-pressure region interior wall and the higher-pressure region interior wall, wherein the web is shaped into a sealable package inside the higher-pressure region; and the advancing of the web comprising advancing the web through the lower-pressure region, through the channel and through the higher-pressure region as air is forced into the channel from the higher-pressure region toward the lower-pressure region to dry the web.