Photo Credit: Karlstad University
All petroleum-based food packaging materials are always replaced by biological materials. Karlstad University research shows that the mixture of starch and other polymers forms an equally effective protective barrier.
'Food packaging must protect and extend the shelf life of foods, and should play a protective role in the transportation process.' Dr. Asif Javed of Karlstad University of Chemical Engineering said: 'To meet these requirements, protective barriers are required in paper packaging, such as For juice or dairy packaging. '
Water and oxygen barriers
Paper food packaging requires a layer of coating to prevent water or oxygen from penetrating the package and prevent it from damaging the inner food. Usually the protective coating is made from petroleum-based plastic. For decades, researchers have been trying to find a Good bio-based materials are used as an alternative to old materials. Studies from the University of Karlstad indicate that mixtures of lignin and starch, such as potatoes or corn, can play a protective role as plastics.
'In my research, we used a mixture of starch and lignin to create a protective barrier.' Asif Javed said: 'If you want to use new materials, then it will extend the shelf life of food and the cost of manufacturing and transportation.' It's about as good as or better than petroleum-based materials. I also studied the biodegradable mixture of starch and some petroleum-based macromolecules. Although this material is not 100% renewable, if it ends up in the forest , Lost in lakes or oceans, it has the important advantage of natural degradation without leaving dangerous microplastics.
Today, different biological alternatives have been used for food packaging, but more research is needed to completely replace petroleum-based materials.
'I hope we can do more research in this area.' Asif Javed said: 'In this field, industrialized fiber-based production processes and products have a good research perspective.'