Project description
Food packaging with biodegradable materials
To preserve the environment, the food packaging industry is undergoing a transformation with the development of advanced bio-based and biodegradable materials. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are good candidates, but moisture uptake and insufficient barrier properties have limited their use as food packaging materials, preventing them from being widely adopted as a replacement for conventional polymers. The EU-funded BioBarr project aims to enhance the barrier functionalities of PHAs and validate new materials for the packaging of selected bakery products intended as “case studies,” with the aim of increasing their shelf life. To improve barrier performance for food packaging applications, BioBarr will explore various surface treatments as well as a new technique by laminating PHAs with polylactic acid.
Objective
BioBarr concerns the development of new bio-based and biodegradable food packaging materials by enhancing barrier functionalities to the biopolymer PHAs (polyhydroxyalkanoates) and by validating the new material in the food industry environment.
PHAs is potential substitute for conventional polymers, since they possess similar properties; respect to polylactic acid (the most widespread biobased/biodegradable material), PHAs show higher biodegradability and better functional properties and mechanical strength.
However, applications of PHAs as food packaging materials are subjected to some limitations. PHA shows medium values of O2 and H2O transmittance while many the most critical factors for some foods (such dry products as bakeries) in relation to packaging are moisture uptake leading to loss of crispiness and oxidation of fats.
For overcoming this limiting factor in PHA food applications, BioBarr aims to enhance PHA vapour and gas barrier properties through material functionalization.
In the first research line, the approach consists of the use of biodegradable materials with adequate properties to be compounded in multi-layer structures specific for the food product category to be packed, in order to optimize functional properties. The innovation consists of laminating PHA with PLA (polylactic acid).
The second challenging research line in BioBarr is surface treatments (nanoform metallization with AlOx or SiOx or metallization Aluminum process) of PHA films.
New materials will be validated on a restricted number of food products in the sector of bakery, representative of different shelf-life requirements and duration, with the purpose to increase shelf-life at least by 10%.
Final impact will be the creation of a new biobased value chain. Proposal takes into account the needs and the growth opportunities of actors operating in each value chain step: bioplastic producer, extrusion and filming actors, converter, inks producers, food industries end-users
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- engineering and technology industrial biotechnology biomaterials bioplastics polylactic acid
- engineering and technology materials engineering coating and films
- engineering and technology other engineering and technologies food technology food packaging
- engineering and technology industrial biotechnology biomaterials bioplastics polyhydroxyalkanoates
- engineering and technology industrial biotechnology bioprocessing technologies fermentation
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.3.2. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3.2.6. - Bio-based Industries Joint Technology Initiative (BBI-JTI)
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
BBI-RIA - Bio-based Industries Research and Innovation action
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-BBI-JTI-2016
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
20124 Milano
Italy
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.