Development of a Material System

At the moment approx. 7,000,000 tonnes of coated papers, cardboards and cardboard packagings are produced worldwide. Only in the area of beverages packaging in Germany a potential of several 10,000 tonnes of coated material can be deduced from the figures of the trade association “Fachverband Kartonverpackungen für flüssige Nahrungsmittel e.V. (FKN)”. Today the predominant coating material is Polyethylen, which amounts to 20 mass percent of the multi-layer packages.

Within the scope of this project a compound based on renewable resources as well as a technical process for its coating on paper, cardboard and cardboard packagings will be developed. These composite materials shall be used in packages for liquid and solid food, substituting materials with fossil based plastics.

In the first stage of the project basic recipes for the coating polymer will be developed taking into account customised industrial properties regarding for example sterilizability, barrier qualities and sealability. Compatibilized blends of polylactide acid and polyhydroxyalkanoates which combine the respective advantages of the single components shall serve as the basis of the polymer compound. In the second stage of the project the coating materials are optimized regarding industrial processing speed. On this occasion, other functionalities, as for example additional coextrudate layers may be added if necessary.

The Fraunhofer Institute of Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology UMSICHT in Oberhausen is responsible for the polymer material development. The Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV in Freising will elaborate the coating process.