Project description
Temperature-sensitive labels with permanent colour change
Producers are losing as much as 10 % of their products in cold chain transportation due to lack of monitoring and control of product temperature – and this figure does not account for the lower quality of improperly stored products. A solution is needed to reverse this trend. The EU funded project T-Sense Cold will develop an irreversible, temperature sensitive, colour changing label to monitor the temperature of each product. This will be applied to the packaging and will permanently change from white to a deep colour state above the activation temperature to inform cold chain stakeholders that products are dangerously overheated. The label comes with two alternative activation modes: Contact for smaller product runs and Non-Contact for larger runs.
Objective
T-Sense Cold represent the series of irreversible temperature-sensitive colour-changing labels for package in cold supply chains. Organic composites containing color former, color developer and co-solvent are used in these inks to define the temperature where the color changes between colored (black, blue, magenta, red) and discolored. Such composites are usually protected in microcapsules and applied in an appropriate binder system to obtain printing ink that changes color reversibly when heated/cooled across the activation temperature (TA). Our innovation starts here – we realize the irreversible (permanent) color change by re-combination of similar substances using advanced chemical engineering. Below TA the new ink is white and permanently colors above TA. The color change is activated in the cold chain environment, e.g. at the packaging of temperature-sensitive food. Two types of activation are planned, contact - for small series and noncontact for large series. Both activation possibilities are our innovations for applications in the cold chain.
Why is this important? Because each producer that enters cold chain should count at least 10% of the turnover as a waste due to lack of control in the chain! Here we are dividing the responsibility among all actors across the supply chain and empower producers to increase the level of control in production. This problem is our business opportunity. We have started MyCol company as a spin-off from National Institute of Chemistry, Slovenia. We produce innovative labels, new at the global level, applicable to any reasonably smooth surface, low-cost, needing no energy supply, which show temperature changes in the cold chain with the naked eye (or by video camera). The market size for the cold chain is huge and increases with high CAGR, especially on the organic food market. We are aiming to reach a 1% share of the European single market, becoming a regional pioneer in this area of advanced materials for food safety.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcolors
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensorsoptical sensors
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcomposites
- engineering and technologyother engineering and technologiesfood technologyfood safety
- engineering and technologychemical engineering
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.