Polymer treatment gives paper packaging mineral oil barrier

27 January 2017

Recycled paperboard may include mineral oils, which together with their poor water resistance limit their use for food packaging. Researchers at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Italy demonstrated that a proper functionalization of the recycled paper with two successive polymer treatments, imposes a mineral oil migration barrier. The PMMA treatment penetrates the paper network and creates a protective layer around every fibre, which turns paperboard to a hydrophobic material throughout its thickness, and reduces the mineral oil migration. The second layer with a cyclic olefin copolymer fills the open pores of the surface (Materials Research Express, 18 January 2017).
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