Revolution In Food Packaging: The Milk Carton Goes Bio
Bio-on has announced a major result achieved with its new collaboration with Tampere University of Technology Finland, one of the most important centres in the world for research and innovation in the use of paper and plastic for food packaging.
To  achieve  this  extraordinary  outcome,  researchers  at  the  two  laboratories  replaced  the  polyethylene contained in current packaging, maintaining all of its impermeability, and for the first time in history created a material that is totally naturally biodegradable and of renewable origin that can be easily and safely recycled. 
 
The Minerv PHA Extrusion Coating project, launched by Bio-on at the end of 2015, aims to develop specific, eco-sustainable and, for the first time, fully biodegradable formulations, in order to make laminates with paper without  using  films,  but  instead  fusing  the  biopolymer  directly  onto  the  paper  using  an  extrusion  process, without losing out on the end product's functionality and aesthetic.  
 
Based on Bio-on's revolutionary biopolymer, 100% naturally biodegradable and already tested in dozens of applications,  from  automotive  to  design  to  biomedical,  Minerv  PHA  EC  (Extrusion  Coating)  is  safe  and particularly suited for use with food. 
 
“We are extremely pleased to present this important product created out of the collaboration with Prof. Jurkka Kuusipalo from the Tampere University of Technology Finland, which has made the highest number of technological developments in the history of food packaging in the food & beverage sector,” explains Bio-on S.p.A. Chairman Marco Astorri. “Together we demonstrate that it is possible to develop new functionalities in the use of PHAs biopolymers in dozens of items”.  
 
“It is a great scientific challenge,” says Prof. Kuusipalo of Tampere University of Technology Finland, “to be able to create new products with an eco-sustainable and completely natural material. I have been analysing and  testing  all  the  plastics  bonded  to  paper  and  cardboard  for  over  20  years.  The high  interest  that the packaging sector is enjoying gives us new goals for a totally eco-sustainable “tomorrow”. The PHAs made by Bio-on is very versatile and enables us to achieve performances never seen before. Being able to do this with completely  natural  products  will  put  us  at  the  cutting-edge  of  research  and  development  in  the  coming decades.                                                                            
 
Bio-on bioplastics are made from renewable plant sources, some of which is waste, with no competition with food supply chains, and are 100% naturally biodegradable. “We chose to work with Tampere University of Technology Finland because they are very oriented towards industrial production,” explains Astorri.  
 
The Minerv PHA EC (extrusion coating) industrial research and development project produces polylaminate via  extrusion  of  the  molten  PHA  polymer  directly  onto  the  paper  or  cardboard  substrate,  with  subsequent cooling  and  consolidation  of  the  plastic  film  by  passing  through  cooled  rollers  (an  overall  process  entitled Extrusion Coating). 
 
Source: Bio-on 







