The Technological Institute for Packaging, Transport and Logistics, Itene, is incorporating reinforcements to improve the properties of materials used in both paper and cardboard and plastic applications. This initiative has the help of the Valencian Institute of Business Competitiveness (Ivace) through Feder funds.

Biodegradable materials with timeshares, which constitute a sustainable alternative for the container and packaging sector, are the axis of a new project called Sinsost that the Technological Institute of Packaging, Transport and Logistics (Itene) is developing both for paper and cardboard applications like plastic.

Funded by the Valencian Institute of Business Competitiveness (Ivace) through the European Regional Development Fund (Feder), the Sinsost project has two main objectives. On the one hand, it will seek to improve the final properties of packaging materials based on paper and cardboard with biodegradable cellulose nanoreinforcements and, on the other, to improve the final properties of materials based on biodegradable polymers added with nanostructured reinforcements.

Within the first strategy, the development of new cellulose nanofibers (MFC) obtained from residues of the agri-food industries (tomato plant remains) and wood (sawdust) will be addressed. Subsequently, the addition of these cellulose nanofibers (MFC) to the paper production processes will be evaluated in order to improve the physical-mechanical and barrier properties of the resulting papers.

This aims to respond to the existing limitations in the use of cellulose, the most abundant renewable biopolymer available worldwide. Cellulose-based packaging, used primarily in secondary packaging, cannot compete with petroleum-derived polymers because they lack the barrier properties necessary in food packaging applications. This has led to combining cellulose with non-bio-based materials, which reduces its sustainability and hinders the recyclability of the container at the end of its useful life.

In recent years, ecological nanocomposites have emerged as an option compared to petroleum-based materials and, in this sense, cellulose nanofibers (MFC), obtained through specific treatments of cellulose fibers, have become one of the bio-reinforcements that have generated great interest due to their uniqueness and characteristics, including their high strength and rigidity, their low weight and their biodegradability.

Sinsost’s second line of work will focus on biodegradable polymers, which are an alternative to the use of petroleum-based polymers. Among the different biodegradable materials, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and poly (butylene succinate) (PBS) are some of the materials that can provide the best performance for rigid and flexible packaging applications, respectively.

However, the large-scale use of PHAs and PBS is still limited due to their price and properties. Within the Sinsost project, a synthetic process will be developed to obtain biodegradable nanostructured reinforcements compatible with biodegradable matrices, specifically with PHAs and PBS matrices, to obtain composite materials for the food and cosmetic packaging industry.