Polyhydroxyalkanoates for Food Packaging Applications.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are a promising group of bioplastics as different renewable resources and microorganisms or plants can be used to produce these biobased and biodegradable polymers with a wide range of properties. The most important PHAs are poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and the copolymers poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) (PHBHHx). Copolymerization is one of the techniques to improve physical–mechanical properties of PHAs as well as other techniques such as blending. Their gas and water vapor permeabilities offer opportunities to be applied as food packaging materials, in combination with the fact that PHAs can be processed into different products including films, trays and coatings on other biobased materials (e.g. paperboard). This article describes the synthesis and production processes of several PHA granulates. The processing parameters and related properties focusing on mechanical, barrier, sealing and heat resistance properties of several PHAs are discussed and innovative technologies to improve these properties for specific applications are described. Finally, compostability of PHAs as an end-of-life option is discussed. Although current high production costs limit the competitiveness in commercial applications, PHAs might have high potential as bio-based/biodegradable plastic packaging materials in the transition towards a circular economy.

ISBN:9780081005965

Publication year:2019

Keywords:PHA, Biopolymers, Synthesis, Recovery, Purification, Polymer processing, Gas barrier, Water barrier, Heat resistance, Gas permeability, Food packaging, Blending, Copolymers, Biodegradation, Bioplastics

Accessibility:Closed