Research Status and Prospects of Bio-based Materials for Grease Barrier Coatings on Paper Food Packaging

Increased environmental and health concerns over the use of plastic packaging or fluorine-containing coatings,in combination with increased market demand for products with a longer shelf life,make bio-based materials one of the most important research candidates for alternative paper packaging materials for oil resistance.These bio-based materials have excellent oxygen and oil barriers,which are critical for food packaging.Moreover,they are biodegradable,naturally renewable,and safe.In this artical,two main groups of bio-based oil repellents for paper food packaging,including polysaccharide-based biopolymers and protein-based biopolymers,are enumerated,and the advantages and weaknesses of bio-based oil repellents are discussed,and effective solutions are proposed.Finally,research status and prospects on the development of bio-based oil-resistant coatings for the food packaging industry are presented.

Borate-Modified,Flame-Retardant Paper Packaging Materials for Archive Conservation

Paper packaging materials like cardboards are widely used to protect archives which are a major kind of cultural relics.Unfortunately,paper is a combustible material,and thus exploring environment-friendly flame retardant for paper-based archive packaging material plays an important role.Herein,boric acid,borax and disodium octaborate are used to modify the craft paper-based packaging materials for archive conservation to improve fire safety.The modified craft paper exhibits much higher flame retardancy than the pristine one dose based on vertical burning tests,without much influence on mechanical properties such as tensile strength and elongation at break.Thermogravimetric analysis(TGA),scanning electron microscope(SEM),and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS)reveal that porous glass structure is formed during the combustion,because thermal decomposition of boric acid,borax and disodium octaborate will produce porous glassy matter as B_(2)O_(3).The porous glass covers the paper surface as an insulating layer which retards the further pyrolysis and combustion,resulting in a denser carbon layer.Our study provides a robust way to reduce the fire hazard of the archive packaging material by applying environment-friendly boron-based fire retardants.

Estimating the costs of one hectare of poplar planting and supplying wood required for producing various types of paper in Iran

In Iran, due to abundant restrictions on harvesting wood from northern forests by implementing the preservation project and also lack of possibility for sufficient wood production, development of the area of planting poplar is quite inevitable. Poplar wood properties have special importance to produce many wood production, particularly pulp and paper. Paper factories are the major consumers of poplar wood at the global level and this is because of unique morphological, physical, mechanical and technological properties of poplar wood. Therefore, regarding the importance of using this species in making various printing and writing paper, packaging or carton, cardboard and newsprint, in this study, costs of poplar production in one hectare including planting and harvesting were examined and determined. Then, based on conversion coefficients of FAO, required round wood, productivity and the cost of poplar wood were calculated for the producing various kinds of paper. The results indicate that carton and cardboard paper or packaging allocate the lowest cost and highest return, while printing and writing paper had highest cost and lowest return in terms of poplar wood supply needed for paper production.