High-Barrier, Biodegradable Food Packaging

Title data

Habel, Christoph ; Schöttle, Marius ; Daab, Matthias ; Eichstaedt, Natalie ; Wagner, Daniel R. ; Bakhshi, Hadi ; Agarwal, Seema ; Horn, Marcus A. ; Breu, Josef:
High-Barrier, Biodegradable Food Packaging.
In: Macromolecular Materials and Engineering. Vol. 303 (2018) Issue 10 . - 1800333.
ISSN 1439-2054
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/mame.201800333

Project information

Abstract in another language

Biodegradable, high-barrier, flexible and transparent food packaging are required to replace current multilayered, metal- or halogen-containing packaging that is nonrecyclable and nondegradable. An all-green solution for food packaging made of a polylactic acid (PLA) foil (25 mu m) furnished with a glycol chitosan-clay nanocomposite coating (1.4 mu m) is presented here that surpasses state-of-the-art high-performance materials like metallized poly(ethylene terephthalate) or poly(vinylidene chloride) even at harsh conditions (OTR=0.17cm(3) m(-2) day(-1) bar(-1) at 75% relative humidity). While the barrier side of the foil inhibits bacterial colonization, the uncoated PLA side assures biodegradability. Such a Janus feature in combination with the superb barrier performance renders this waterborne bio-nanocomposite coating a valuable alternative to conventional less eco-friendly food packaging materials.