Biopolymer packaging

In order to be used as a food packaging material, biopolymer packaging films must have mass transfer properties suitable for their use. Significant food quality losses can occur due to transfer of moisture, gases, aroma, flavor, or color to and from the... 

Biopolymer Packaging in the UK Grocery Market, Banbury WRAP. 

Biopolymer-nanoclay hybrid plastics - Polymer nanocomposites are used as packaging materials. Application of nanocomposites in the biopolymer packaging industry (e.g. films and bottles) potentially yields materials with low water vapor permeability (WVP) accompanied by a high transparency of the... 

C. Bastioli in Proceedings of Actin Conference Biopolymers Packaging - A New Generation, Birmingham, UK, 2001. 

Polyester chemistry is the same as studied by Carothers long ago, but polyester synthesis is still a very active field. New polymers have been very recently or will be soon commercially introduced PTT for fiber applications poly(ethylene naph-thalate) (PEN) for packaging and fiber applications and poly(lactic acid) (PLA), a biopolymer synthesized from renewable resources (corn syrup) introduced by Dow-Cargill for large-scale applications in textile industry and solid-state molding resins. Polyesters with unusual hyperbranched architecture also recently appeared and are claimed to find applications as crosstinkers, surfactants, or processing additives. 

The diverse field of biopol miers outlined in this book does underline its importance today. We can expect to see biopolymers in packaging, medicine, construction, in fact in almost every part of life - just as S)mthetic plastics are ubiquitous with everyday life at the moment. 

A programming package PRIMUS for the evaluation of isotropic SAXS patterns is offered by Svergun [196], Although the focus is on biopolymers, it can also evaluate general particle scattering. 

Alginate is another biopolymer extensively studied for its gel formation property with applications in the food packaging and pharmaceutical industries as well as for membranes and as biosensors. Such LDH hybrid assemblies were recently used for the detection of cations such as Ca [HO]. 

It is interesting to note that all the simple theories (such as Hiickel 7r-electron theory) have now reappeared as options in these very same packages Thus, very many scientists now routinely use computational quantum chemistry as a futuristic tool for modelling the properties of pharmaceutical molecules, dyestuffs and biopolymers. I wrote the original Computational Quantum Chemistry text as... 

The major classes of biopolymer, starch and starch blends, polylactic acid (PLA) and aliphatic-aromatic co-polyesters, are now being used in a wide variety of niche applications, particularly for manufacture of rigid and flexible packaging, bags and sacks and foodservice products. However, market volumes for biopolymers remain extremely low compared with standard petrochemical-based plastics. For example, biopolymer consumption accounted for just 0.14% of total thermoplastics consumption in Western Europe for 2005. 

Starch-based biodegradable polymers also have a better environmental image than synthetic biopolymers as they are based on sustainable resources, which open up marketing opportunities for brand owners who wish to promote their products as being packaged in materials based on sustainable resources. 

As a relatively mature market for starch-based biopolymers, loose-fill packaging volumes are forecast to grow by 8.6% per annum in Western Europe, 6.8% per annum in North America and by 5.6% per annum in Asia Pacific. 

Rodenburg Biopolymers, BV, based in the Netherlands, is one of the largest producers of plant-based biopolymers in Europe. In 2002, the company opened a 47,000 tonnes per annum plant for production of Solanyl, a biopolymer based on potato peel. Initially, Rodenburg is targeting injectionmoulding applications such as flowerpots. The company is planning to develop other markets such as packaging in future. 

In 2005, starch-based materials were the largest class of biodegradable polymer with just over 47% of total market volumes. Loose-fill foam packaging accounts for more than a half of starch biopolymer volumes. Polylactic acid (PLA) is the second largest material class followed by synthetic aliphatic-aromatic co-polyesters. The PHA category is at an embryonic stage of market development with very low market tonnage at the moment. 

Biopolymers Lanthan, dextran, polyhydroxybutyrate Food additives, medical devices, packaging... 

Biomass-derived polymers are often touted as "green" alternatives to polyethylene and other plastics used for packaging. However, not all biopolymers are biodegradable (2). Moreover, as we shall see in section 8.5, degradability of biopolymers is sometimes overstated (3). In this chapter, we will quantify the contribution of plastics to municipal solid waste in the USA and examine some of the realities about biodegradability of "bioplastics."... 

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