Engineering Commons^™

Use Of Renewable Cellulose Nanofibrils And Water-Barrier Layers In The Production Of Snack Packaging, Thoalfakar Saheb Alsaady

Honors College

From potato chips to chocolate bars, snack packaging requires materials that have excellent water vapor and oxygen barrier properties, good mechanical behavior, and good grease resistance. The most common material used in snack packaging is polypropylene (PP) layer that has been aluminum coated or metalized on one surface. The problem is not only that non-renewable petroleum is used to produce the plastic, but the production of aluminum requires large energy inputs and generates toxic wastes. In addition, this current packaging does not break down in the environment and cannot be recycled. This research is looking at using layers of cellulose …