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Taped Barrier Test for Internal Bags Used in Boxes of Recycled Paperboard: The Role of the Paperboard and Its Consequence for the Test
Author(s) -
BiedermannBrem Sandra,
Biedermann Maurus,
Grob Koni
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
packaging technology and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.365
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1099-1522
pISSN - 0894-3214
DOI - 10.1002/pts.2268
Subject(s) - paperboard , pulp and paper industry , waste management , adsorption , chemistry , process engineering , chromatography , environmental science , materials science , engineering , mathematics , organic chemistry
Internal bags with a functional barrier are a promising solution to render recycled paperboard acceptable for food packaging. Producers and users of such bags as well as control authorities need a tool to evaluate whether a bag satisfies the requirements of safety. In the previously proposed methods, the criterion focused on the permeability of the barrier layer. This neglected the influence of absorption or adsorption of the substances in the paperboard and the plastic of the bag. To take these contributions into account, it was proposed to change the criterion and use the percentage of the amount of (surrogate) substances in the recycled paperboard that passes into the food. This paper explains this, in particular how the method better reflects the reality in a pack of food. Firstly, donors should be prepared from recycled paperboard, as the behaviour differs from that of paper. Secondly, absorption into the paperboard seems to be a slow process. It was noted that freshly added surrogate substances were easily extracted by methyl tert‐butyl ether, but the extraction yield decreased during storage over some weeks. To catch this reality of the substances in the paperboard, donors need to be conditioned before use. Finally, absorption in the paperboard may depend on the concentration, which prompted a further reduction of the amounts of the surrogate substances used for testing. It turned out that usually the hydrocarbon (C17) determines the barrier efficiency; triethyl citrate is no longer used, as it was never a relevant surrogate. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.