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- Title
Gas Permeability Properties of Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate).
- Authors
Vandewijngaarden, Jens; Murariu, Marius; Dubois, Philippe; Carleer, Robert; Yperman, Jan; Adriaensens, Peter; Schreurs, Sonja; Lepot, Nadia; Peeters, Roos; Buntinx, Mieke
- Abstract
Environmental issues, such as the depletion of fossil resources and waste disposal, have instigated the development of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) (PHBHHx), a biobased and biodegradable polymer, bacterially produced from palm oil. PHBHHx is a versatile polymer and this study aims to further characterize it for the possible application as food packaging material. In this respect, barrier properties for gases such as O, water vapor and CO are of great importance. PHBHHx films were made using compression molding. Results show that the O permeability (PO) of PHBHHx is 6-25 times lower as compared to common low barrier materials such as polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE) and polystyrene (PS), close to the PO of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA), but more than 900 times higher as compared to ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH), which is a high barrier polymer used in multilayer packaging. The water vapor permeability of PHBHHx is similar to materials such as PLA, EVOH, polyamide and PET, but slightly higher than more apolar polymers like PP and PE. The CO permeability (PCO) of PHBHHx is lower as compared to PP, PE and PS (2-20 times), but higher as compared to PET (>7 times) and EVOH and poly(vinyl alcohol) (>650 times). In addition, the effect of ambient relative humidity (RH) and temperature on PO of PHBHHx was investigated. The results show that PO at 23 °C, 0 % RH is increased with 8, 18 and 33 % at RH of 50, 70 and 90 % respectively. At 10 °C, PO decreased with 62 %, whereas at 38 °C PO increased with 200 % in comparison to PO at 23 °C (0 % RH). Overall, it can be concluded that PHBHHx shows potential for certain applications in food packaging, however efforts should be made to further improve the permeability properties.
- Subjects
PERMEABILITY; POLYHYDROXYBUTYRATE; FOSSIL collection; WASTE management; FOOD packaging; POLYLACTIC acid
- Publication
Journal of Polymers & the Environment, 2014, Vol 22, Issue 4, p501
- ISSN
1566-2543
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10924-014-0688-1