Food soft plastic packaging application and prospect analysis
Not long ago, a French wine manufacturer launched a wine product in the United States using Tetra Prisma packaging. The package has a capacity of 1L and is recyclable for easy carrying. Compared to traditional glass packaging, this package can save up to 90% of the cost. Due to its light weight, the cost of transportation is also greatly reduced. This example shows that flexible packaging is gradually penetrating into the field of traditional rigid packaging and poses a certain threat to rigid packaging. Of course, if you really want to replace hard packaging, flexible packaging needs to go a long way, especially in the beverage industry. However, industry insiders have realized this inevitable trend, that is, plastic is gradually replacing the status of glass and metal. The threat from plastic. Plastic rigid packaging has three major advantages: solid, lightweight and low cost. If it is transparent, it will be enough to match the glass. In fact, most of the condiments originally packaged in glass bottles have been converted to PET bottles. Not only that, plastic hard packaging is widely used in products such as vegetable oil and bottled water. Transparency is a very important feature. Consumers want to see the quality of the contents through packaging, especially for vegetable oils. The most typical representative of plastic rigid packaging is a thin plastic bottle. This bottle accounts for almost half of all plastic packaging on the market, covering vegetable oil and bottled water. The main reason why thin-walled plastic bottles are so popular is low cost. Manufacturers use this plastic bottle to meet consumer demand for price. Plastic packaging has many advantages. For example, plastic packaging can be designed in a multi-layer structure, and even an aluminum foil layer can be added, which makes the function of a single package rich. But this does not meet the 3R principle, especially the last R - recycling. How plastic bottled beer is filled with oxygen-sensitive beverages in transparent plastic bottles is the focus of current technology research and development. The PET bottle weighs only 1/7 of the glass and does not break. It has achieved great success in soft drink packaging, especially for 2-3L bottles. In recent years, small-capacity, single-drink beverages have slowly abandoned the original glass or canned packaging, and instead used PET bottles. However, the road that beer wants to change from glass bottles to PET is extremely difficult. The bottle must have a strong barrier to carbon dioxide and oxygen, and must be transparent and strong. The unit cost of PET bottles is twice that of ordinary glass bottles, and it has high gas permeability, especially oxygen and carbon dioxide. The shelf life of beer depends on the longest time its taste can be maintained, and the infiltration of oxygen directly affects the taste of the beer. In addition, a reduction in the degree of carbonation can also result in a change in the taste of the beer. At present, the research focus of plastic materials is on how to improve the barrier properties of plastic bottles to oxygen and carbon dioxide, and how to extend the shelf life of plastic bottled beer. Another major obstacle is the way beer is filled. At present, 80% of the world's beer is disinfected by tunnel pasteurization. The temperature at which this process is used is not necessarily acceptable for PET bottles.
At present, there are very limited types of plastic bottled beer, and only a small amount of beer can be seen on the market. Of course, technology developers will not easily admit defeat in the face of challenges. Through painstaking research, they launched a number of plastic bottled beer solutions to meet the requirements of manufacturers and consumers. However, none of these existing solutions can fully meet the needs of the market, but each has its own strengths. Different products and different markets require different solutions, and the products are often driven not by technology but by market. Barrier coating technology extends shelf life and improves oxygen barrier properties, while active multilayer bottles offer high processing flexibility and oxygen barrier properties, but have a short shelf life. In addition, regardless of the oxygen barrier capacity of the bottle, sealing is still a big problem. For small-volume bottles, the oxygen infiltrated from the mouth of the bottle has a great influence on the taste of the beer, so that efforts to spend on the barrier of the bottle wall are all in vain. Currently available caps are metal crown caps, plastic caps and aluminum caps. Plastic bottled beer requires a complete combination of the bottle and the cap, so the cap with high barrier properties is also in need of development.
From the current development situation, glass bottled beer will still be used for a while, and the future of plastic bottles is also very optimistic. With the efforts of R&D personnel and the continuous improvement
The retort pouch will become the mainstream product of food packaging
Ordinary sterilization bags are generally heat-sterilized below 120 ° C, mostly made of two to three layers of composite materials. The shelf life of food is more than half a year. Ultra-high temperature sterilization bags are generally sterilized at 135 ° C. The bag-making materials are more than three layers, with aluminum foil sandwiched between them, and the shelf life is 1-2 years. Some are also produced using four or five layers of composite materials. The outer layer of the retort pouch is made of polyester film with a thickness of 10-16 microns, which is used for reinforcement and high temperature resistance. The middle layer material is 11-12 micron aluminum foil, the main function is to block gas and moisture and shield light; the inner layer material is As a direct contact with food and heat sealing in the retort pouch, in addition to the packaging hygiene standards, the requirements for the inner layer material are also required to be chemically stable. Generally, non-toxic polypropylene is used, and the thickness is 70-80 micrometers. A polyolefin film such as HDPE. At present, retort pouches are mainly used for packaging canned foods, and are also used in Japan and Western Europe for packaging beverages, juices and the like. With the improvement of people's living standards in China, the safety requirements for food packaging are getting higher and higher, and the retort pouch food packaging will usher in a period of rapid development.
Plastic - the modern universal term, it is a wide range of so-called polymers - that is, by a relatively simple carbon
In any case, polymers are not always modern synthetic products. In fact, we have been using naturally occurring biopolymers (such as asphalt or resins) for thousands of years. However, when we refer to 'plastic', we usually refer to synthetic polymers that are widely used in everyday life, such as PVC, polypropylene, polyethylene or polyester.
The requirements of the printing and packaging industry have changed. New coloring methods, new surfaces and processing options have made plastics a more popular medium for designers and have received corresponding attention in the printing industry. Experts estimate that the use of synthetic materials increased between 10% and 15% between 2005 and 2006. Where paper and cardboard used to be the main information carriers, further industrial development has caused a significant shift in interest. More specific requirements have arisen for the packaging, protection, transportation and display of goods. As a result, the requirements to be met by printed substrates have become more complicated:
* Requires the label to be resistant to tearing and water, but must be able to print or write on it.
* Literature works are more durable and cannot be torn even when used under extremely harsh conditions.
Food soft plastic packaging application and prospect analysis
Not long ago, a French wine manufacturer launched a wine product in the United States using Tetra Prisma packaging. The package has a capacity of 1L and is recyclable for easy carrying. Compared to traditional glass packaging, this package can save up to 90% of the cost. Due to its light weight, the cost of transportation is also greatly reduced. This example shows that flexible packaging is gradually penetrating into the field of traditional rigid packaging and poses a certain threat to rigid packaging. Of course, if you really want to replace hard packaging, flexible packaging needs to go a long way, especially in the beverage industry. However, industry insiders have realized this inevitable trend, that is, plastic is gradually replacing the status of glass and metal. The threat from plastic. Plastic rigid packaging has three major advantages: solid, lightweight and low cost. If it is transparent, it will be enough to match the glass. In fact, most of the condiments originally packaged in glass bottles have been converted to PET bottles. Not only that, plastic hard packaging is widely used in products such as vegetable oil and bottled water. Transparency is a very important feature. Consumers want to see the quality of the contents through packaging, especially for vegetable oils. The most typical representative of plastic rigid packaging is a thin plastic bottle. This bottle accounts for almost half of all plastic packaging on the market, covering vegetable oil and bottled water. The main reason why thin-walled plastic bottles are so popular is low cost. Manufacturers use this plastic bottle to meet consumer demand for price. Plastic packaging has many advantages. For example, plastic packaging can be designed in a multi-layer structure, and even an aluminum foil layer can be added, which makes the function of a single package rich. But this does not meet the 3R principle, especially the last R - recycling. How plastic bottled beer is filled with oxygen-sensitive beverages in transparent plastic bottles is the focus of current technology research and development. The PET bottle weighs only 1/7 of the glass and does not break. It has achieved great success in soft drink packaging, especially for 2-3L bottles. In recent years, small-capacity, single-drink beverages have slowly abandoned the original glass or canned packaging, and instead used PET bottles. However, the road that beer wants to change from glass bottles to PET is extremely difficult. The bottle must have a strong barrier to carbon dioxide and oxygen, and must be transparent and strong. The unit cost of PET bottles is twice that of ordinary glass bottles, and it has high gas permeability, especially oxygen and carbon dioxide. The shelf life of beer depends on the longest time its taste can be maintained, and the infiltration of oxygen directly affects the taste of the beer. In addition, a reduction in the degree of carbonation can also result in a change in the taste of the beer. At present, the research focus of plastic materials is on how to improve the barrier properties of plastic bottles to oxygen and carbon dioxide, and how to extend the shelf life of plastic bottled beer. Another major obstacle is the way beer is filled. At present, 80% of the world's beer is disinfected by tunnel pasteurization. The temperature at which this process is used is not necessarily acceptable for PET bottles.
At present, there are very limited types of plastic bottled beer, and only a small amount of beer can be seen on the market.
Of course, technology developers will not easily admit defeat in the face of challenges. Through painstaking research, they launched a number of plastic bottled beer solutions to meet the requirements of manufacturers and consumers. However, none of these existing solutions can fully meet the needs of the market, but each has its own strengths. Different products and different markets require different solutions, and the products are often driven not by technology but by market. Barrier coating technology extends shelf life and improves oxygen barrier properties, while active multilayer bottles offer high processing flexibility and oxygen barrier properties, but have a short shelf life.
In addition, regardless of the oxygen barrier capacity of the bottle, sealing is still a big problem. For small-volume bottles, the oxygen infiltrated from the mouth of the bottle has a great influence on the taste of the beer, so that efforts to spend on the barrier of the bottle wall are all in vain. Currently available caps are metal crown caps, plastic caps and aluminum caps. Plastic bottled beer requires a complete combination of the bottle and the cap, so the cap with high barrier properties is also in need of development.
From the current development situation, glass bottled beer will still be used for a while, and the future of plastic bottles is also very optimistic. With the efforts of R&D personnel and the continuous improvement
