New Packaging Materials: Your Food Is No Longer Afraid Of Long-Distance Transportation

Recently, researchers at Borouge (a joint venture between Borealis and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, mainly engaged in the production and development of plastics) led by Professor Kumar Shanmugam have achieved a technological breakthrough.

Professor Kumar Shanmugam’s research is mainly used to improve packaging materials and improve the airtightness of its polymers, especially the protection against oxygen penetration. In the current common packaging materials, oxygen can often penetrate into the interior, causing food and other things to rot and deteriorate. If the performance of the polymers used for packaging can be improved, easily oxidized substances such as food can be preserved for a longer time.
Based on the polypropylene resin and polyethylene required for the experiment provided by Borouge Group, Professor Kumar Shanmugam and his team conducted experiments on a variety of mixed materials at the Masdar Institute. Borouge Group also conducted special oxygen permeation tests.
Finally, after experimental research, it was found that the material mixed with graphene, carbon nanotubes and nano-scale silicate clay has the best barrier effect on oxygen, and can also effectively slow down the diffusion of oxygen in the packaging material. “This mixed material can first block the path of oxygen diffusion, and secondly, the material has a certain absorption effect on oxygen, which can further reduce the oxygen content in the package,” said Yanbin Cui and Shailesh Kundalwa, researchers of the research team, explaining the main functions of this material.
“In fact, each of these mixed materials plays an important role. Carbon nanotubes and graphene provide a perfect barrier, while making the polymer have a certain light transmittance, and nanoparticles can absorb the incoming oxygen. For example, silica-like clay can reduce oxygen diffusion by 15%, graphene by 23%, and carbon nanotubes by 40%,” joked Professor Kumar Shanmugam. In addition to the above three main materials, a coating is also added to the outside to enhance the life of the packaging material and also play a certain role in protecting food. In addition, the use of the coating can reduce the consumption of mixed materials, and for an enterprise, the economic benefits are also considerable.
In addition to being used for food packaging, this discovery is also of great significance for the construction of some pipelines such as gas and oil. Professor Kumar Shanmugam said that the next research direction will be the research on pipeline transportation materials for these energy industries, and the prospects for this market are very good.