Packaging has an important function in protecting food and thus avoids food spoilage. Paper and cardboard are therefore often coated with fossil-based plastic to protect the food from oxygen and moisture.
The project aims to replace these barrier layers of fossil-based plastics with thin layers of SiOx. Thin layers of SiOx have previously been used to coat plastic films to improve barrier properties. The project aims to apply the technology to paper substrates in a continuous roll-to-roll process.
By coating paper with an extremely thin SiOx layer, a substrate with good oxygen and water barrier is obtained, while the layer’s proportion of material is negligible when the material is recycled. The project will thus develop a new type of packaging material that is bio-based, recyclable and biodegradable.
Participants
RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, adapa Sweden Landskrona, Billerud and Chromogenics.
Budget & time plan
The project’s total budget is 430 160 SEK and the project runs during six months – between May and October 2023.
The new generation of measuring cells for measuring the oxygen barrier. Photographer: Johan Olsson.