PHB packaging for the storage of food products

By Doris Zwicker Bucci, L. Tavares, I. Sell. 2005

253 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Polymers are widely used for food packaging. However, due to their slow degradation and the predicted exhaustion of the world petroleum reserves, the use of polymers brings significant environmental problems. Therefore, it is necessary to replace them with bioplastics that degrade in a short time when exposed to a biologically active environment. The possibility for the use of PHB, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate), in food packaging was investigated in this study. This polymer, through the injection process, was used to manufacture packaging. The packaging was evaluated by means of dimensional tests (dimensions, volumetric capacity, weight and thickness), and mechanical tests (dynamic compression and impact resistance) and compared with PP (polypropylene) packaging of the same format. Also, the potential for organoleptic contamination of some food types (margarine, mayonnaise and cream cheese) were investigated. It was concluded that PHB has a different resistance to dynamic compression in relation to PP. This reflects in its deformation value, which is about 50% lower than that of PP, characterizing a more rigid and less flexible material. Under normal freezing and refrigeration conditions the performance of PHB tended to be inferior to that of PP, whereas at higher temperatures PHB performed better than PP. Dimensional characterization assay results reinforced the necessity for designing special molds for the injection of PHB or for the optimization of injection conditions and mold temperature. The sensorial results with the foods tested were positive indicating no notable difference at the 5% level. The results showed that there is possibly a future for packaging made from biobased materials such as PHB.

Subfields: Automotive Engineering, Biomaterials, Pollution

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/6e515ee77f295b7906c1c08e5c1c5463a097e8d3

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Citations in the corpus

New wine in old bottles: Technological diffusion in developed economies (2007, background): “The current use of non-biodegradable polymers such as polyvinyl chloride leads to major disposal problems and vulnerability to increases in petroleum prices (Bucci et al., 2005).”
Natural-based plasticizers and biopolymer films: A review (2011, background): “PHB is a natural thermoplastic polyester and has many mechanical properties comparable to synthetically-produced degradable polyesters [100].”
Processing and characterization of plasticized PLA/PHB blends for biodegradable multiphase systems (2015, background): “PLA and PHB are biodegradable polyesters and they are used in consumer products by several industrial sectors due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability and sustainability [6, 12, 13].”
Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA): Review of synthesis, characteristics, processing and potential applications in packaging (2014, background): “This range of interesting properties and processability open up a bright future for PHB in applications ranging from surgical sutures, tissue engineering [87] and agricultural foils to packaging for the storage of food products [88].”
Bacterial synthesis of biodegradable polyhydroxyalkanoates (2007, background): “Applications focus in particular on packaging such as containers and films (Bucci and Tavares 2005).”