Sustainably sourced biopolymers for use in complex paper packaging

用于复杂纸包装的可持续来源的生物聚合物

• 批准号: 10078245
• 金额: $ 30.91万
• 依托单位: CAMBRIDGE SMART PLASTICS LIMITED
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Collaborative R&D
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10078245
• 关键词: Sustainably; sourced; biopolymers; use; complex

Plastic packaging and the waste associated with it is a well-known and painful part of modern life. However, it is the recycling, recovery, and end-of-life that we all hate, not the added convenience, hygiene, and shelf-life of products. Certain products just could not be sold without packaging, as oxygen and humidity would spoil and rot the food or let coffee beans lose all their aroma, but equally -- protect sensitive electronics or battery innards. These are precisely the packaging materials that can't be recycled and wind up in landfill or incinerators. The packaging materials, which you have likely handled today, are those with a lining of thin film of aluminium. This metal layer blocks all gas transmission, but equally, makes recycling and separating the metal from the plastic nearly impossible -- so actually plastic is not the only villain here... Our project aims to kick metals out of packaging films and turn to nature for a solution. Chitosan is an abundant natural polymer found in fungi and insect/crustaceans shells and itself evolved over billions of years to be stronger than steel and completely impervious to air and water. By making thin films of chitosan (and a little magical chemistry from our Smart Plastics library), we can create layers that serve the function of metal coatings but remain totally biodegradable and recyclable. Chitosan once crushed and mixed back into a recycled plastic will not degrade its properties, as metal would, but in fact strengthen the recycled materials. By using chitosan, we can aim for our packaging materials to be home compostable and totally sustainable. We propose a focused product development to move our technology into the market by piloting a new flexible film that can seal in flavour, extend shelf lives, and all of this without the need for mixing metals into our plastic. We hope the wait for bioplastics is over and the UK can be the champion of this revolution.

塑料包装和与之相关的废物是现代生活中众所周知且令人痛苦的一部分。然而，我们都讨厌的是回收、回收和报废，而不是产品的便利、卫生和保质期。有些产品没有包装就卖不出去，因为氧气和湿度会使食物变质、腐烂，或者让咖啡豆失去所有的香气，但同样也会保护敏感的电子产品或电池内部。这些正是无法回收的包装材料，最终只能被填埋或焚化。包装材料，你今天可能处理的，是那些内衬铝薄膜。这层金属层阻挡了所有的气体传输，但同样地，也使得回收和从塑料中分离金属几乎不可能——所以实际上塑料并不是唯一的恶棍……我们的项目旨在将金属从包装薄膜中剔除，并转向自然寻求解决方案。壳聚糖是一种丰富的天然聚合物，存在于真菌和昆虫/甲壳类动物的壳中，它本身经过数十亿年的进化，比钢铁更坚固，完全不受空气和水的影响。通过制作壳聚糖薄膜（以及我们智能塑料库中的一些神奇化学物质），我们可以制造出具有金属涂层功能的层，但仍然完全可生物降解和可回收。壳聚糖一旦被粉碎并混合回回收塑料中，就不会像金属那样降低其性能，反而会增强回收材料的强度。通过使用壳聚糖，我们的目标是使我们的包装材料可以在家里堆肥，并且完全可持续。我们提出了一个重点产品开发，通过试用一种新的柔性薄膜，将我们的技术推向市场，这种薄膜可以密封味道，延长保质期，所有这些都不需要在塑料中混合金属。我们希望对生物塑料的等待已经结束，英国可以成为这场革命的冠军。