VTT: recyclable coating for food & pharmaceuticals

Licensing opportunity

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed an environmentally-friendly coating that it says is especially suitable for food and pharmaceutical packaging, and provides a new method of manufacturing thin, light and air-tight packaging materials that can be recycled.

The coating was developed using the atomic layer deposition (ALD) method, which to date has been used mostly in microelectronics. Using ALD makes it easier to manufacture packaging materials which are thinner, lighter and better sealed.

ALD coatings are thin, conformal and pinhole-free, and they closely follow the contours of the coated material. Thanks to the thinness of the film - only 25 nanometres - the protective layer is bendable and flexible. Thin bio-based packaging materials produced using this technology have gas permeability properties similar to those of existing dry food packages and pharmaceutical blister packs.

Using ALD coating allows different functions to be integrated in the packaging material, such as prevent watering oxygen, humidity, fats and aromas from permeating the packaging, and protecting the surface from stains and bacterial growth.

While other thin film methods can produce thin coatings, their gas permeability is greater and the material is stiffer and breaks easily. With these other methods, comparable gas permeation resistance is possible only if thicker films are used.