Your team has managed to solve a really significant problem that scientists in Poland have been working on for years. You have developed revolutionary, fully biodegradable foil based on starch, which meets specified utility parameters. Has the technology been already patented?
Three authors from the Institute of Food Technology and Analysis and the Institute of Fermentation Technology and Microbiology at the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences of Lodz University of Technology, i.e. me, Professor Agnieszka Nowak and dr Andrzej Jaśkiewicz, have applied for a patent on the invention called Biodegradable foil with antibacterial properties and the method for obtaining the foil, and we are waiting to be granted a patent.
The foil developed by your team meets a lot of needs – it is durable, for example. Obtaining a material with such parameters has so far been very problematic for researchers. How have you managed to make the packaging material so strong?
The foil is based on starch. Indeed, it is not a new material in the domain of biodegradable plastics. It has many advantages (e.g. can be composted), but at the same time absorbs water easily and can become less durable when in use. Additionally, it undergoes ageing, which increases its susceptibility to tear. We have managed to overcome these problems to a large extent, thanks to an addition of an organic acid that is present in many types of grain, leading to the creation of special bonds within the starch. This makes it less water-absorbing, reduces gas permeability and makes the foil based on such modified starch less susceptible to tear.
You are also working on a special additional hydrophobic coating for the biodegradable foil?
Hydrophilicity of foil allows for it to be easily and quickly biodegraded, but using such foil for packaging moist products is limited. Additional natural hydrophobic coatings based on lipids may be of assistance here, reducing the contact between moisture from such a product with the base foil. We are planning to obtain a variant of the foil with a hydrophobic coating, which also has to be biodegradable.
The foil created at Lodz University of Technology is also intended to have another innovative feature – antibacterial properties. Do you already have an idea how to achieve this objective?
Nature has equipped a lot of plants with chemical compounds having antibacterial properties. They are used, most often in the form of extracts, to protect food from getting spoiled rapidly. Packaging containing such substances is called active packaging, as it aims to benefit both product quality and consumer health. It is desirable to obtain such biocidal substances from agricultural and food industry waste which provides us with a lot of good options. In order to give the starch-based foil antibacterial properties, we added an extract from chicory root containing sesquiterpene lactones and that was a good idea.
Where is your invention going to be applied?
In the form of thin foil, the material can be used to produce bags, sachets, or wrapping for trays used for packaging food or cosmetics, mainly in a solid form. The designed material can also be used to manufacture trays or single-use tableware.
Have any companies interested in buying the technology already contacted you?
We are collaborating with the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Lodz University of Technology, which provides us with support in contacting potential purchasers of the developed technology. A breakthrough moment will occur when we have managed to perfect the technology for film blowing or casting, and produce a larger batch of the product, making it possible to package food in an industrial environment. We are conducting the last stage of technological developments using the machine park of the New Chemical Syntheses Institute in Puławy, where we are planning to carry out further process tests. So, we are about to offer ready-made film on a roll, which will make the transition to using the foil in industrial applications possible.
Małgorzata Trocha