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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - BIOCOMPLACK (Eco-friendly food packaging with enhanced barrier properties)

Teaser

Summary

Most items are packed in plastic to extend their shelf-life and preserve their properties. Traditional synthetic polymers (PET, LDPE and PP) have been used because they are: flexible, transparent, light and have good barrier properties that extend the shelf-life of food. Nevertheless, the increased use of these synthetic polymers has led to ecological problems due to their non-biodegradable nature and their non-renewable origin.

The European society has demonstrated its concern about the environmental problem of plastics by the increasing rate of recycling plastic packaging. 80% of European consumers want to buy products with a minimal impact on the environment. People are interested in packaging less contaminant or biodegradable and from not fossil sources.

BIOCOMPLACK is a biobased, biodegradable and compostable food packaging with enhances barrier properties. The three main points of innovation in BIOCOMPLACK are:

(i) the use of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs)
(ii) the multilayer structure and
(iii) the use of reinforced PLA biopolymer (one layer).

These three innovations will enhance the barrier properties to oxygen (less than 0.5 cm3 m-2 d-1 bar-1 to oxygen permeability) and water vapour (less than 2 g m-2 d-1 to water vapour permeability) as well as will improve the shelf-life of food. BIOCOMPLACK is an alternative to common bio-packaging products that enhances 300% the shelf-life of food.

Work performed

The last period of the BIOCOMPLACK project mainly focused on the realization of an industrial scale of the BIOCMPLACK prototype according to the technical parameters emerged from the previous periods.
In this WP3: BIOCOMPLACK Industrialization, NaturePlast completed its commissioning and scale up production process, being now able to produce the required PLA compound for BIOCOMPLACK Tecnopackaging has also commissioned and scaled up to industrial level (TRL8) their processing capacity. All the necessary adjustments in the Tecnopackaging process has been carried out into an industrial production.
SAPICI has selected the best batch available for the LAMINATING chosen adhesive and has sent it to GOGLIO and has also kept the contacts and proceeded to import the CNC crystals at the required concentration water solution.
Goglio has prepared their facilities to do two industrial trials. First results showed us that CNC coating was not an easy task and It has been necessary to tune several parameters to obtain good results. Finally, two industrial trials have confirmed that applied layer of CNCs is similar to a transparent and flexible metallization process. In fact, CNC layer improves the oxygen and water vapor permeability and keeps/improves the mechanical properties of the laminate. Therefore we have been able to confirm that BIOCOMPLACK prototype is transparent with improved properties in comparison to actual solutions in the market.
Trial industrial tests conducted for WP3 confirmed a very important thing: the barrier properties of the CNCs were maintained and replicated in the scale up phase
Biodegradability & compost tests (t D 2.4 , 2.5) have been started at the end of march the preparatory and incubation phase have been completed and preliminary results are in line with the expectations of the project Determination of biobased carbon tests have also started in the same period Preliminary results show that the minimum value is a carbon content at least of 90% to be considered BIOCOMPLACK prototype as biobased could be reach
Also shell life studies has started
Due to the good results obtained in the industrial trail the partners has planned two phone calls to define an exploitation activities draft, covering following items : ownership and protection of the results , and their way of exploitation ; the partners agreed that an IP license agreement could be the best way for everyone to obtain benefits from the exploitation activities

Final results

BIOCOMPLACK will have strong impact in the society and in the environment. BIOCOMPLACK will have a direct impact on a field of great importance: the preservation and respect of the environment. BIOCOMPLACK will be an eco-friendly packaging from natural renewable sources instead of fossil fuels. The traditional fossil fuels will be replaced by renewables such as annual maize or sugar beet crops, or perennial crops such as manioc or sugar cane. The use of this biomass to create bioplastics as BIOCOMPLACK cuts down greenhouse effect gases and can be turned into renewable energy by resorting to recycling at the end of the productÂ´s useful-life cycle. As a result, it can be asserted that one of the main benefits from BIOCOMPLACK is that it will help to put an end to the cycle and increase resource efficiency. The project will reduce the plastic packaging waste thanks to its biodegradability in the nature and will generate at the end of its useful life an added value product. Our BIOCOMPLACK solution will provide also a loop cycle of sustainability.

The most promising result of the project was to have obtained validation and industrial replication of the barrier properties of the CNC obtained thanks to industrial modifications of lamination machine
The partners will also benefit by bringing into the market this industrial plus by building , after the end of the project , IP license agreement so that everyone could achieve a profitability
The project so has confirmed that the perspective of using cellulose nanocrystal as barrier coating against oxygen transmission is promising and feasible..

This consortium will also be benefited by bringing into the market the BIOCOMPLACK food packaging.