REFUCOAT projects investigates hybrid bio-based high oxygen/water barrier and active coatings to be used in a monolayer bio-based food packages (films and trays) as alternative to current metallized and modified atmosphere (MAP) packages to avoid the use of non-renewable materials in multilayer structures that currently lead to complex and expensive recycling steps.
After development of REFUCOAT project and once the different packages obtained have been characterized and validated, it can be concluded that the package developed for Potato Chips Package from GRUPO APEX is a good alternative to the current one. Barrier properties are comparable as well as the mechanical properties as sealing temperature and friction coefficient. Furthermore, the packaging is compostable while the current structure is hardly recyclable. In the case of breadcrumb package, a workable structure has also been obtained. It presents better barrier properties than the actual one and regarding the mechanical properties, the sealing temperature and the friction coefficient are lower, so this structure represents an improvement in the production speed. As in the potato chips package, the structure obtained is compostable, more sustainable than the current one that is hardly recyclable (PP/PE). Finally, for chicken packaging, the shelf-life has been extended thanks to the active coating developed and the mechanical properties (sealing temperature and friction coefficient) are better than those of the current packaging. Also, business plans for final users was developed in the project, in order to set the ground to futur project results exploitation as soon as they are fully developed.
