Greiner Packaging at FachPack: Process optimizations bring barrier technology to a whole new level

Kremsmünster, September 2016. With its so-called "inert barrier technology" (ibt), Greiner Packaging has succeeded in bringing food shelf life for plastic cups to a whole new level. A SiOx coating on the cups minimizes the migration between the filling and the packaging, while at the same time protecting the filling from external effects. The layer greatly reduces the oxygen and moisture permeability. Since the barrier layer does not react to any kind of external influence, the result is greatly improved aroma protection. For cups, the coating, made of silicon oxide, can also be made of highly transparent materials that do not affect the transparency. The longer shelf life can counteract unnecessary food wastage. The coating has no impact on disposal or recycling, and just as little effect on the packaging weight.

Migration tests and a separate measuring room
"Meanwhile, we have also conducted migration tests with independent expert bodies. In the process, we determined that a migration of media in both directions is greatly reduced at temperatures below 80°C. We can achieve migration improvement up to 8 times better than conventional barrier materials," says Tobias Strasser, managing director of Greiner Packaging Diepoldsau (CH), as he offers an insight into the work of the experts. A measuring room has also been recently installed at Greiner Packaging in Switzerland in order to perform precise and climate-sensitive measurements for customers. The oxygen permeability is measured with its own measuring equipment, the same used in accredited laboratories, and the values are stored in a database. "We can then tell the customer the corresponding values for each batch. The measuring procedure is being used worldwide in barrier packaging and is absolutely groundbreaking here. We are happy to be able to offer this now to our clients and to further develop the inert barrier technology," says Strasser.

FachPack: Greiner as the innovative partner for product success
ibt is the main focus in this year's FachPack: Greiner Packaging, Greiner Assistec, and Cardbox Packaging will use the opportunity from September 27-29, 2016 to present their diverse services to an interested public at the most important European trade fair in the packaging industry. Tailored, customer-specific solutions will be shown in Hall 5, booth 5-125. Aside from ibt, there will also be plastic coffee capsules, baby bottles and nipples as well as medicine packaging and plastic pallets.