Polypropylene Films of High Oxygen and Water Vapor Permeability for MAP Applications

MARIELA ACOSTA; DANIEL RICARDO ERCOLI; GRACIELA SUSANA GOIZUETA; JORGE LOZANO; NUMA CAPIATI

Granada

Congreso; EPF 2011, XII GEP Congress; 2011

Harvested plant products respire and transpire continuously, consuming oxygen (O2) from the surrounding environment and producing carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapor [1]. The aim of modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) is to reach the most suitable storage atmosphere of a given product minimizing the time required to achieve it. This objective can be reached by matching the respiration rate of the packaged produce and the gas exchange through the plastic film [2]. An attractive way to obtain new materials with tailored properties for MAP applications is the blending of different polymer species [3]. The objective of this work was to develop Polypropylene (PP) based films for packaging of fresh produce. Particularly, we were interested in studying the effects of the addition of an elastomeric Polyethylene co-octene (POE) of high permeability to oxygen and water vapor to PP. The effects of blend composition as well as the mixing and processing conditions on blend permeabilities, mechanical properties and morphology were analyzed.