Periodic Reporting for period 3 - YPACK (HIGH PERFORMANCE POLYHYDROXYALKANOATES BASED PACKAGING TO MINIMISE FOOD WASTE)
Reporting period: 2020-11-01 to 2021-04-30
The use of petroleum-based plastic materials in the food packaging area has been increasing over the last decades due to a number of advantages such as their low cost, versatility, mechanical properties, easy processing, etc. However, their abusive use has caused serious issues to the environment. Such is the issue that, up to day, we produce around 300 million tons of plastic waste every year, which is nearly the equivalent to the weight of the entire human population. The problem is that plastic waste — whether in an ocean, or on land — can persist in the environment for centuries and create microplastics as they break down. This is currently causing serious environmental and health problems and for this reason, there has been a growing interest worldwide to replace plastics with biodegradable plastics, with particular attention to replace this on the area of food packaging.
The use of compostable and biodegradable -under environmental conditions- biomaterials and resources are seen as one of the many strategies to minimize the environmental impact of petroleum-based plastics. These materials are compatible with the Circular Bioeconomy strategy, where waste is upcycled into packaging, which is then returning the carbon back to soil via organic recycling. Biodegradable performing packaging derived from contaminant industrial wastes such as cheese whey, has attracted special attention as it could be the definitive solution to fight plastic pollution, without compromising food quality and safety aspects inherent to plastic packaging. For this reason, the YPACK team has been working on innovative food packaging solutions based on polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) derived from wastes, that have reached commercial explotation for some of the developed items even during the execution of the project.
Briefly, YPACK has aimed to scale the production and commercial validation of two food packaging solutions based on biodegradable biowaste-derived polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). The actions carried out within the project were:
1. Consumer profiling and market studies in order to identify consumers preferences and market needs.
2. Several processes related to the production of mono and multi-layered systems were optimised and scaled to a pre-industrial scale.
3. High barrier and active performance allowing the preservation of challenging foods.
4. Life cycle analysis (LCA) and shelf-life studies with meat, fruits, vegetables and pasta. The latter activities being currently carried out by two retailers and a food company, partners of the project.
Figure 1.Sketch of YPACK project.
The use of compostable and biodegradable -under environmental conditions- biomaterials and resources are seen as one of the many strategies to minimize the environmental impact of petroleum-based plastics. These materials are compatible with the Circular Bioeconomy strategy, where waste is upcycled into packaging, which is then returning the carbon back to soil via organic recycling. Biodegradable performing packaging derived from contaminant industrial wastes such as cheese whey, has attracted special attention as it could be the definitive solution to fight plastic pollution, without compromising food quality and safety aspects inherent to plastic packaging. For this reason, the YPACK team has been working on innovative food packaging solutions based on polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) derived from wastes, that have reached commercial explotation for some of the developed items even during the execution of the project.
Briefly, YPACK has aimed to scale the production and commercial validation of two food packaging solutions based on biodegradable biowaste-derived polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). The actions carried out within the project were:
1. Consumer profiling and market studies in order to identify consumers preferences and market needs.
2. Several processes related to the production of mono and multi-layered systems were optimised and scaled to a pre-industrial scale.
3. High barrier and active performance allowing the preservation of challenging foods.
4. Life cycle analysis (LCA) and shelf-life studies with meat, fruits, vegetables and pasta. The latter activities being currently carried out by two retailers and a food company, partners of the project.
Figure 1.Sketch of YPACK project.
The work performed in the YPACK project has led to two products:
• A multi-layer biobased and bio-degradable film based on poly-hydroxyalkanoates (PHA) with improved oxygen barrier and anti-microbial properties for food packaging applications. This innovative active multilayer film can be regarded as a potential candidate for use in the design of organic recyclable active food packaging, since the active and barrier properties of these materials are advantageous for food preservation. The developed multilayers can be applied as lids for packaging, food contact layers and flow packs. In fact, within the frame of YPACK, the feasibility of these films has been tested as a flow pack for fruit packaging.
• Thermoformed trays (YPACK23, YPACK25 and YPACK27), in which YPACK27 contains almond shell residues and a new grade of PHA derived from cheese whey waste.
Both key exploitable results have resulted in end-product prototypes and have been tested with several foods in commercial shelf-life studies. Towards their exploitability and further commercialization of the products, the idea would be to further optimize the scalability of the process to reduce costs and improve finish quality and to license the technology to companies interested in the products.
Additionally, various results that are not considered scaled products yet, have been referred to as potential intermediate exploitable results, such as:
• Optimization of the microcellulose production from almond industry by-products
• Fine-tuning of a new production process for microbial biomass, rich in PHBV, grown out of cheese whey.
• Electrospun nanofiber based hot-tacks as an alternative to petrochemical adhesives
• Biodegradable active blown film
• Improvements in the development of purification and extraction methods of PHA from cheese whey
In terms of dissemination, the YPACK brand as well as the above-mentioned project results have been shared throughout the timeframe of the project through several activities, including publication of news on the YPACK website and social media (mainly Twitter & LinkedIn), attendance and presentations at webinars and events, newsletters and publication of several scientific publications.
• A multi-layer biobased and bio-degradable film based on poly-hydroxyalkanoates (PHA) with improved oxygen barrier and anti-microbial properties for food packaging applications. This innovative active multilayer film can be regarded as a potential candidate for use in the design of organic recyclable active food packaging, since the active and barrier properties of these materials are advantageous for food preservation. The developed multilayers can be applied as lids for packaging, food contact layers and flow packs. In fact, within the frame of YPACK, the feasibility of these films has been tested as a flow pack for fruit packaging.
• Thermoformed trays (YPACK23, YPACK25 and YPACK27), in which YPACK27 contains almond shell residues and a new grade of PHA derived from cheese whey waste.
Both key exploitable results have resulted in end-product prototypes and have been tested with several foods in commercial shelf-life studies. Towards their exploitability and further commercialization of the products, the idea would be to further optimize the scalability of the process to reduce costs and improve finish quality and to license the technology to companies interested in the products.
Additionally, various results that are not considered scaled products yet, have been referred to as potential intermediate exploitable results, such as:
• Optimization of the microcellulose production from almond industry by-products
• Fine-tuning of a new production process for microbial biomass, rich in PHBV, grown out of cheese whey.
• Electrospun nanofiber based hot-tacks as an alternative to petrochemical adhesives
• Biodegradable active blown film
• Improvements in the development of purification and extraction methods of PHA from cheese whey
In terms of dissemination, the YPACK brand as well as the above-mentioned project results have been shared throughout the timeframe of the project through several activities, including publication of news on the YPACK website and social media (mainly Twitter & LinkedIn), attendance and presentations at webinars and events, newsletters and publication of several scientific publications.
Major advances in the project beyond the state of the art are the development and scaling up of a new cheese whey derived PHA biopolymer and biodegradable thermoformable compounds based on PHA with reduced cost and based on biowaste. It is also a major breakthrough of the project, the development of a high gas barrier multilayer concept that can be thermoformed. The YPACK products make use of safe nanotech strategies such as continuous nanocellulose interlayers and electrospun hot-tacks to exhibit the desired functionalities. Currently, there is no fully biobased compostable packaging that can achieve the targeted properties.
By the end of the project, we have managed to scale fully functional biodegradable packaging, i.e. thermoformed trays and multilayer films. These concepts have been assessed in terms of LCA, biodegradability in the environment and in composting, migration, and as packaging elements for the shelf-life extension of several selected food products, yielding satisfactory results.
By the end of the project, we have managed to scale fully functional biodegradable packaging, i.e. thermoformed trays and multilayer films. These concepts have been assessed in terms of LCA, biodegradability in the environment and in composting, migration, and as packaging elements for the shelf-life extension of several selected food products, yielding satisfactory results.