Dr. José Luis Feijoo-Gómez SPE Polyolefins Conference201423-26 February Houston

OPTUM® Technology an innovative barrier solution for polypropylene-based materials in food packaging

applications

A global producer of performance materials.

Dr. José Luis Feijoo-Gómez SPE Polyolefins Conference 201423-26 February Houston

• Founded in 1919, Ferro is a leading, global producer of performance materials sold to manufacturers worldwide

• Our customers represent more than 30 industries and span 100-plus countries

• We have manufacturing facilities in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific

• Ferro has more than 5,200 employees working at sites in 23 countries

Dr. José Luis Feijoo-Gómez SPE Polyolefins Conference201423-26 February Houston

Founded in

1919(Mayfield

Heights, Ohio)

4,600employees worldwide

23countries

$1.8 billion

sales 2012

THE PERFORMANCE MATERIALS COMPANY

5

Engineered Polymer Materials

Polymer Additives

Performance Coatings (Tile Coating Systems, Porcelain Enamel)

Pharmaceuticals

Polymer and Ceramic Engineered Materials Group

Engineered Polymer Materials Operations

Stryker, (NW) OH72 Employees

Operating since 1980

Castellón, Spain100 Employees

Operating since 1959

PLASTICS

CONFIDENTIAL

7

Carpentersville, IL35 employees

Operating since 1987Belongs to Ferro since 1999

Plymouth, InGelcoat plant

32 employeesOperating since 1968

Engineered Polymer Materials Operations

8

Engineered Polymer Materials Operations

Evansville, InFilled and Reinforced Plastics

71 employees on siteStarted as Complas in 1973Belongs to Ferro since 1979

Master Batch Technology

Dr. José Luis Feijoo-Gómez SPE Polyolefins Conference201423-26 February Houston

OPTUM® BARRIERDESCRIPTION

• MB based on based on a passive non-nanosized technology for food packaging in ready meals and some hot beverages in which a heat treatment is necessary and for this polypropylene is extensively used

• Our proposal is to reduce the EVOH content in the final packaging by reducing water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) in PP during the thermal treatment

OPTUM® BARRIERTHERMAL TREATMENTS

• Sterilization Destroy all microorganisms 110 – 130°C for 15 – 3 min Packaging traditionally uses aluminum but also retort pouches

and multilayered PP-based trays

• Pasteurization Destroy viable pathogens (needs refrigeration) About 71°C for 20 sec Packaging is very diverse

Layer structure Applications

Polypropylene For products with high fat content and lids

PP/EVOH/PP

Additionally contains interior EVOH layer as high extra oxygen and aroma barrier which allows for very

long shelf-life packaging for trays especially developed for MAP and fresh products

This requires adhesive as sealing interlayers

OPTUM® BARRIERMARKET OF PP TRAYS

• Yearly, around 3.3 billion of multilayered PP trays for ready meals in Europe are processed by sterilization

• About 5% of the pasteurization market is also based on this type of trays (5 billion trays / year)

The presence of EVOH in the multilayer structure is key to food quality and safety because it reduces the ingress of oxygen and the loss of aroma components during extended package shelf life

When this is subjected to steam during pasteurization or sterilization, water passing through the protective hydrophobic water-barrier PP layer is thought to be sorbed on the EVOH layer

Sorption of water is known to have a severe plasticizing effect on the properties of EVOH and leads to deterioration of the oxygen barrier performance and delamination

Since rate of water release through the outer PP layer becomes very slow on cooling, the oxygen permeability can remain elevated for many weeks

• Currently, to reduce this effect during the thermal treatment, industry increases thickness of PP or EVOH layers or uses special EVOHs…

OPTUM® BARRIERTECHNICAL OVERVIEW

• WVTR is reduced by tortuosity effect when dispersing low amounts of lamellar clays with high aspect ratio: 100 – 300 m2/g

• Such ultrathin reinforced polyolefins also promotes a higher thermal and mechanical performance maintaining transparence and natural color

• The clays exfoliation into the polyolefin matrix is the key to success

PP matrix

Clay

H2O

OPTUM® BARRIERBARRIER PERFORMANCE

• PP / Adhesive / EVOH / Adhesive / PP

OPTUM® BARRIERPP-BASED MULTILAYER STRUCTURE

PP / Adhesive / EVOH / Adhesive / PP

OPTUM® BARRIERPP-BASED MULTILAYER STRUCTURE

 

Figure 1. Film extrusion of the composites

OPTUM® BARRIERPP-BASED MULTILAYER STRUCTURE

Figure 2. SEM images of the unfilled polypropylene and the OPTUM® composite films.

 

OPTUM® BARRIERPP-BASED MULTILAYER STRUCTURE

Figure 3. DSC curves of unfilled PP (black) and OPTUM® composite (grey) films.

 

OPTUM® BARRIERPP-BASED MULTILAYER STRUCTURE

 Figure 4. Box plot of the

water uptake on the films.

 

OPTUM® BARRIERPP-BASED MULTILAYER STRUCTURE

FilmsWater Uptake

(g/m2µm)Reduction (%)

Unfilled PP 1,219 ± 151 -

MMT 1,020 ± 204 16.3

Bentonite 906 ± 185 25.7

OM bentonite 828 ± 236 32.1

OPTUM® 525 ± 84 56.9

Table 1. Average values of water uptake of the PP films.

CONCLUSIONS• Permeation study during the steam treatment

showed that the incorporation of OPTUM® generates a significant effect on the barrier properties of polypropylene.

• The morphology results showed that the incorporated functional fillers in the masterbatch were properly dispersed in a polymer matrix, obtaining a highly exfoliated-structure composite.

• Since the crystallinity of the composite is in the order of polypropylene, the decreased of water vapor permeability can be attributable solely to the incorporation of the functional fillers.

Dr. José Luis Feijoo-Gómez SPE Polyolefins Conference201423-26 February Houston

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTIONjose.feijooj@ferro.com

Dr. José Luis Feijoo-Gómez SPE Polyolefins Conference201423-26 February Houston