Scaling up plant-protein based coatings for food packaging

由于消费者、行业和监管因素的影响，品牌所有者面临着越来越大的压力，要求他们从塑料包装转型，通常选择纸或纸板包装作为更可持续的替代品。然而，功能性和阻隔性涂料需要应用于纸和纸板，以在许多应用中提供性能，例如食品包装。目前，这些涂料主要由塑料和其他合成聚合物制成。传统的石油基涂料（通常是聚乙烯）消耗不可再生的化石燃料资源，不可生物降解（在环境中分解释放持久性微塑料），难以与纸和纸板分离，污染回收流。因此，一次性涂塑纸和纸板包装往往被焚烧、填埋或向环境释放微塑料。Xampla的使命是永远取代世界上污染最严重的塑料。Xampla于2018年从剑桥大学成立，现在在剑桥科学园生物创新中心拥有一支39人的团队，我们的专利和改变游戏规则的技术利用了植物蛋白质的自然自组装能力。我们已经创造了一种新型的结构蛋白质材料，它具有良好的使用性能，是生物/植物基的，可生物降解的，并且是现有制造设备的替代品。我们利用私人和公共资金提供快速，成功的商业化，从而在多个高价值，小批量应用中推出创新产品。在Innovate UK项目：10060401中，Xampla开发了一种可生物降解的植物基纸板涂层，该涂层不会干扰传统的回收过程，并已在工业标准设备上进行了中试生产规模的验证。在这个项目中，创新英国的资金将解决我们的纸和纸板涂料的大规模食品包装应用的最后障碍。成功的项目成果将使Xampla和英格兰东部成为全球领先的食品包装生物基涂料制造中心。

Brand owners are increasingly under pressure to transition away from plastic packaging in response to consumer, industry, and regulatory factors, often opting for paper or paperboard packaging as more sustainable alternatives. However, functional and barrier coatings need to be applied to paper and paperboard to deliver performance in many applications, such as food packaging. These coatings are, at present, predominately made from plastic and other synthetic polymers. Traditional petroleum-based coatings (typically, polyethylene) consume non-renewable fossil fuel resources, are non-biodegradable (breaking down in the environment to release persistent microplastics), and difficult to separate from paper and paperboard, contaminating recycling streams. Consequently, single-use plastic-coated paper and paperboard packaging is often destined for incineration, landfill, or environmental release of microplastics.Xampla's mission is to replace the world's most polluting plastics for good. Xampla span out from the University of Cambridge in 2018 and now with a team of 39 people based in the Cambridge Science Park BioInnovation Centre, our patented and game-changing technology harnesses the natural ability of plant proteins to self-assemble. We have created a new class of structured protein materials that deliver performance in use, is bio-/plant-based, biodegradable, and is a drop in replacement for existing manufacturing equipment. We have leveraged private and public funding to deliver swift, successful commercialisation, resulting in innovative product launches in multiple high-value, low-volume applications.In Innovate UK project: 10060401, Xampla developed a biodegradable plant-based paperboard coating that does not interfere with conventional recycling process and has been validated at pilot manufacturing scale, on industry standard equipment. In this project, Innovate UK funding will address the final barriers to scale-up of our paper and paperboard coatings for high-volume food packaging applications.Successful project outcomes will position Xampla and the East of England as a global leading hub for manufacturing of bio-based coatings for food packaging.