Toward more eco-friendly packaging materials
Most conventional packaging materials are oil-based (fossil fuel-based), produced with non-renewable resources that are not biodegradable adding to waste management problems. The goal of the EU funded project 'Atmospheric plasmas for nanoscale industrial surface processing' (PLASMANICE) was to develop biodegradable packaging made from renewable resources. Atmospheric plasma deposition techniques are energy efficient, reproducible, capable of yielding tailored surface structure at the nano scale and environmentally friendly. However, the in-line, reel-to-reel industrial-scale processing methods have not been widely applied for pre-treatment of packaging materials largely due to slow processing speeds. The main objective of PLASMANICE was to develop equipment with faster atmospheric plasma deposition of functionalised nano-structured coatings on fibre and polymer based substrates. This would make it a viable industrial alternative to current packaging practices. Sol-gel coating technology produces solid (gel phase) materials from small molecules in a colloidal suspension (sol). PLASMANICE partners successfully developed sol-gel coating processes to produce high-barrier inorganicorganic coatings at laboratory and industrial level. Development of a novel multi-jet plasma system enabled the achievement of industrially relevant line speeds. Sol-gel coatings consisting of inorganic and organic and biodegradable materials were successfully applied to a variety of substrates including paper, paperboard and plastic films. The biodegradability of paperboards was not affected by the coating process. This gives the food packaging industry options that are environmentally friendly and cost effective. In addition, all materials, solutions and processes were thoroughly evaluated using a variety of techniques for life-cycle assessment (LCA) and risk and safety analyses. An online spectroscopic monitoring method was developed for evaluating coating deposition characteristics. A relevant patent has been submitted. PLASMANICE has significantly improved plasma coating deposition equipment for enhanced system robustness and treatment uniformity as well as industrially relevant line speeds. This technology has made biodegradable and renewable coatings for a variety of product packaging materials a more viable option.
