TAGS: Barrier Solutions for Food Packaging Sustainability / Natural Solutions
Have you heard about this barrier packaging application? You might find water-purification plastic pouches used in barrier food applications.
On a twist, a novel concept by France-based Bernhardt-Deltasacs has used them to purify water for drinking purposes. Their water purification bag uses both solar and surface heat generation to raise bag temperatures to 60°C.
- A highly transparent front film layer allows Ultra Violet (UV) light to enter.
- A back, black-colored layer absorbs surface heat into the pouch.
Internal film layers are High Density PolyEthylene (HDPE). It is combined with an external PolyPropylene (PP) with UV additives. Used in the agricultural film to ensure sunlight durability. Design-wise, a 0.38-millimeter (mm) HPDE spout is easily inserted and sealable into the side of the pouch.
Bernhardt-Deltasacs' SaWa named product kills more than 99.9% of dangerous water pathogens. The 4-liter container is usable for up to 400 cycles, or approximately one year. During its first four years, more than 600,000 bags were distributed in Eastern Africa and other hot climate areas.
Bernhardt-Deltasacs' Pouch Concept to Purify Water Making it Drinkable
(Source: Bernhardt-Deltasacs)
Despite being costlier, barrier packaging has established itself in the food and beverage sector. This is because it can prevent oxygenation and thus degradation of contents. In the graphic below, active/barrier packaging by Conveni BV is being used to:
- increase shelf life,
- protect flavor profiles, and
- maintain food’s appearance without adding preservatives
Active Barrier Packaging Increases the Shelf Life of Food Products
(Source: Conveni BV)
Multi-compartment trays are also being developed. They heat food at different rates using a microwave shielding label molded into a wall of the tray compartment. Antimicrobials compounded into the plastic or as coating are helping to boost food safety and shelf-life.
Nanotechnology is also being used to enhance packaging barrier properties. New clear barrier materials are being developed to replace aluminum foil and other opaque barrier materials.
Are you looking for innovations in barrier food packaging? Watch the course to review the promising materials & technologies.
Find out two barrier packaging materials, one processing development, and two applications respectively.
Tosaf's White Masterbatches for Hard and Soft Barrier Food Packaging
Israel-based Tosaf has commercialized
a series of white masterbatches:
- That does not contain Titanium Dioxide (TiO2).
- Suitable for hard and soft barrier food packaging where whiteness, color strength, and opacity are maintained.
Regular white pigment is considered carcinogenic when inhaled in powder form. This has led the European Union (EU) to ban it as a food colorant via regulation E171.
Currently, it does not ban the use of TiO
2 as a pigment in food-contact plastics, yet food packaging manufacturers are strongly requesting TiO
2-free masterbatch compounds for barrier films.
Tosaf’s formulation contains no unbound TiO
2. It comes in both cylindrical and spherical granules. Furthermore, the key features of Tosaf’s patent-pending TiO
2 masterbatch include:
- Independent of any additive carrier system.
- Compatible with any host polymer.
- Possesses long tool life and low abrasiveness.
- Exhibits no plate out in two roll calendered or extrusion systems.
Tosaf’s White Masterbatches Contains no Titanium Dioxide (TiO2)
(Source: Tosaf)
Nova Chemicals' Barrier Packaging Polyethylene for MDO and BOPE Films
Nova Chemicals has developed barrier food packaging PolyEthylene grades. They are used for Machine Direction Oriented (MDO) and Biaxially Oriented PolyEthylene (BOPE) films. These oriented film grades are directly targeted at replacing PolyEthylene Terephthalate (PET) and Biaxially Oriented PolyPropylene (BOPP) packaging. Improved integrated MDO film lines are used with:
- advanced control,
- new equipment for BOPP and BOPE production, and
- resins that broaden the orientation window.
They are used over the traditionally used tenter frame biaxial process where standard PE is unsuitable.
Nova Chemicals’ SURPASS® resins include:
- a transparent MDO-HDPE (High Density PolyEthylene) or BOPE-HD film,
- an MDO-LLDPE (Linear Low-Density PolyEthylene) film with high puncture resistance, and
- a sealable BOPE-HD film.
As a rule, BOPE is preferred for large packages and liquid packaging. While MDO is preferred for small formats and custom laminates. A good example here is the use of BOPE as a replacement for PolyEthylene Terephthalate/PolyEthylene (PET/PE) laminate in a stand-up barrier pouch with
excellent sustainable recycling.
Nova Chemicals' BOPE Barrier Film Stand-up Pouch Resin (L)
(Source: Nova Chemicals)
Melodea's Barrier Product for Recyclability of Plastic Food Packaging
Melodea Ltd. based in Rehovot, Israel is a leading sustainable barrier coatings producer for packaging. Its newest innovation, MelOx NGen is a high-performance barrier product. It is a water-based and plant-sourced coating. Designed to line the inside surface of many forms of plastic food packaging. These include films, pouches, bags, lids, and blister packs.
It allows the recyclability of plastic food packaging and beyond. Besides its excellent eco-profile, the new barrier maintains food freshness. It substantially reduces plastic waste.
It is compatible with food contact approved by:
- the U.S. Food & Drug Association (FDA) and
- the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR)
The coating helps protect and extend the shelf-life of foods such as snacks, confectionary, nutrition bars, meats, and dairy products as well as pharmaceuticals.
Melodea Ltd’s Water-based, Plant-sourced Inside Surface Coating for Plastic Food Packaging
(Source: Melodea Ltd)
Baystar Uses Borealis' Polyethylene Grades for Stand-Up Pouches
The US-based packaging film converter Baystar has used Borealis’ PolyEthylene (PE) resins namely Borstar FB1350 and FB2230 grades to develop barrier food packaging Stand-Up Pouches (SUPs), where oxygen and moisture resistance in multilayer laminates is critical.
The three-layer SUP features:
- an inner layer of PE lamination film,
- an adhesive layer, plus
- a Machine Directed Oriented MDO PE outer/surface layer that provides:
- high stiffness,
- good flatness,
- printability, and
- good sealability.
It is fully recyclable due to its all-PE material structure.
Baystar Uses Borealis' Borstar® PE Grades for Stand-Up Pouches
(Source: Baystar)
Borealis’ Borstar® PE technology features a multi-modal resin reactor set-up with two loop reactors feeding a gas phase reactor that employs a novel, proprietary catalyst. Given its wide molecular weight range, it has superior physical properties, processes better than other PE resin types, and requires no process aids.
Origin Materials' Biobased PET Bottle Caps with Good Barrier Properties
The U.S. California-based Origin Materials has a patent pending technology that can make beverage bottle caps from:
- 100% recycled PolyEthylene Terephthalate (PET) or
- 100% biobased PET
They have better O
2 and CO
2 barriers than either High Density PolyEthylene (HDPE) or PolyPropylene (PP).
A 2024 bottle cap tethering mandate in Europe and increasing global recycling sustainability pressure are very helpful for Origin Materials’ PET alternative. Their technology platform catalytically converts C-6 cellulose into four isolated building-block chemicals in a process that sequesters carbon. The C-6 cellulose is obtained from:
- harvested wood,
- agricultural waste,
- wood waste, or
- cardboard
ChloroMethyl Furfural (CMF) is one of the chemicals that is converted into a biobased paraxylene. It is one of the components needed to produce 100% bio-PET.
Origin Materials' All Bio PET Bottle Cap
(Source: Origin Materials)
Explore All Additives Suitable for Food Packaging Application
View a wide range of
additives suitable for barrier food packaging available in our database. Analyze the technical data of each product, get technical assistance, or request samples.