One of the lines of work of the BIOFUN team, belonging to the Packaging Group of the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA-CSIC), consists of investigating the use of biopolymers as an alternative to conventional plastic materials for food packaging. The greater awareness of consumers, as well as the strict government regulations that are being imposed at the European level in which the use of single-use plastics is restricted, are promoting the development of more sustainable materials with less environmental impact, making it necessary the search for economically viable alternatives and driving the world market towards the production of so-called biopolymers.
The main objectives addressed within this line of research are:
Obtaining, characterization and improvement of natural biopolymers as alternatives to plastics for food packaging.
Design of materials for food applications with antimicrobial, antioxidant and/or virucidal capacity to improve food safety.
Development and characterization of nanostructured multilayer coatings and materials with tailored barrier properties and/or active and bioactive functionality.
Development of active materials with catalytic capacity through the union of enzymes.
Characterization of the biodegradability and compostability of the developed materials.
Impact of biopolymers in the food packaging industry
There is a combination of factors that is driving the growth and acceptance of biopolymers in the packaging area, postulating itself as a sustainable, renewable and efficient alternative to conventional plastics. The projects carried out by the BIOFUN group address this need, being able to generate the following impact:
Reduction of environmental pollution derived from the use of plastic materials.
Improvement of the quality and safety of the packaged product.
Contribution to the circularity of the process, taking advantage of industrial waste to obtain biopolymers.
Avoid the so-called “green washing” of these materials by characterizing their biodegradability and/or compostability properties.
The main processing and analytical techniques used in the development of materials based on biopolymers for food packaging are:
- Development of films by “casting”, mixed in cast and pressed, extrusion and parts by injection.
- Characterization of materials: Gas barrier properties (oxygen permeability-OTR and water vapor permeability), thermal analysis (DSC, TGA, DMA), structural analysis (XRD, SAXS), compositional analysis (FTIR, chromatographic techniques), properties mechanical (traction, compression, peeling, tearing, impact), rheological properties, etc.
- Biodegradability and Compostability tests (following the UNE-EN ISO 17556:2019 and UNE-EN ISO 14855:2019 standards for biodegradability and EN 13432 for compostability).
The BIOFUN group is led by Dr. Amparo López Rubio and has a research team with training in chemistry, pharmacy, food technology, physics, engineering and biology that investigates food structures and components from a multidisciplinary approach.
More information:
info@biofun.es
