‘Nano-bricks’ could help improve food packaging
March 28th, 2011 - 6:28 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Mar 28 (ANI): Scientists have said that a new material containing an ingredient used to make bricks shows promise as a transparent coating for improving the strength and performance of plastic food packaging.
Called ‘nano-bricks’, the film even looks like bricks and mortar under a microscope, and the coating could help foods and beverages stay fresh and flavourful longer and may replace some foil packaging currently in use.
Scientists said ordinary plastic soda bottles tend to loose their fizz after just a few months of storage on grocery store shelves.
If manufacturers apply the new coating to these bottles, the material could slow the loss of carbon dioxide gas and help sodas stay bubbly for several more months or even years.
The coating could also extend the shelf life for those portable food packages known as MREs (Meal, Ready to Eat) that sustain soldiers in the field, with the added benefit of being microwavable.
Although made to last for at least three years, their shelf life can drop to as little as three months when exposed to harsh conditions such as high heat.
“This is a new, ‘outside of the box’ technology that gives plastic the superior food preservation properties of glass,” Jaime Grunlan, Ph.D., who reported on the research, said.
“It will give consumers tastier, longer lasting foods and help boost the food packaging industry,” he said.
The new film combines particles of montmorillonite clay, a soil ingredient used to make bricks, with a variety of polymer materials.
The resulting film is about 70 percent clay and contains a small amount of polymer, making it more eco-friendly than current plastics.
The film is less than 100 nanometers thick - or thousands of times thinner than the width of a single human hair - and completely transparent to the naked eye.
“When viewed under an electron microscope, the film looks like bricks and mortar,” Grunlan, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A and M University in College Station, Texas, said.
“That’s why we call it ‘nano-bricks’,” he added.
The scientists described the new, eco-friendly material at the 241st National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). (ANI)
- Now plastic from milk protein and clay - Oct 21, 2010
- Ideal Cures to launch new tablet coating product in Geneva - May 21, 2012
- Milk protein, clay used to make biodegradable foam plastic substitute - Nov 18, 2010
- Bacteria-killing paper for next-generation food packaging - Feb 20, 2011
- Bio-plastics 'aren't necessarily greener than oil-based relatives' - Oct 22, 2010
- Ideal Cures gets US patent for pharma coating technology (With Images) - Mar 27, 2012
- Clay-armored bubbles show minerals played key role in origin of life - Feb 07, 2011
- Edible bottles could replace plastic waste - Feb 23, 2012
- Soon, 'green' cars made from pineapples, bananas! - Mar 28, 2011
- At last a veg cutlet that tastes, feels like meat - Mar 07, 2012
- Soon, inexpensive paper batteries to power clothes, packaging material - Sep 24, 2009
- Scientists uncover 'green' way of decomposing BPA-containing plastic - Jul 29, 2010
- Harita NTI, ITC to develop bio-polymer packaging material - May 31, 2011
- What is the secret of ancient Chinese super-strong mortar? - May 31, 2010
- Coming soon: Low-cost touch screens made of renewable materials - Jan 28, 2011
Tags: added benefit, bricks and mortar, carbon dioxide gas, electron microscope, foil packaging, food packages, food preservation, foods and beverages, grocery store shelves, harsh conditions, high heat, human hair, microwavable, naked eye, nanometers, plastic food packaging, plastic soda bottles, polymer materials, shelf life, sodas