Nanoparticle reinforced biodegradable packaging material

This project that is carried out together with the Food and Biobased Research Institute in Wageningen,  revolves around the development of biodegradable plastics. Although these plastics are available, their mechanical properties are not good enough to warrant application. In order to improve this we have made and used biodegradable nanoparticles. In a pilot study we could show that incorporation of these particles had positive effect on various aspects that are relevant for packages, for example the films that we made were stronger, and also less light was transmitted through them, which is very relevant for some food products.

There is clearly a lot of room for improvement, and we will do that by investigating the production of particles from various streams that are currently considered waste (the particles in the picture are made of chitin with is present in the shells of crustaceans). As a base-polymer we use poly-lactide, which has good biodegradability, and we will investigate how certain particle properties lead to various mixed matrix polymeric structures of which we want to chart and improve the properties. A special point of attention if prevention of aggregation of the particles, which hinder their application. Also incorporating anti-microbial action is one of the targets of the project. 

Besides technical topics, it is also possible to address social aspects within the project that are for example linked to acceptability of biodegradable plastics, the collection and further processing of them. A special point of interest is how images are used and travel over the internet. This special topic will be carried out together with