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Title:
BIOPLASTIC PACKAGING FOR CONTAINER FROM SEAWEED AND THE MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF
Document Type and Number:
WIPO Patent Application WO/2021/019524
Kind Code:
A1
Abstract:
A semirigid packaging, container, or tableware such as spoon, plate, bowl, fork, knife, cup, straw, and the like, with or without lid, uses seaweed as raw material and the manufacturing methode thereof.

Inventors:
MULYONO NORYAWATI (ID)
Application Number:
PCT/ID2020/000003
Publication Date:
February 04, 2021
Filing Date:
July 24, 2020
Export Citation:
Click for automatic bibliography generation   Help
Assignee:
MULYONO NORYAWATI (ID)
International Classes:
C08L99/00; B65D65/46; C08L3/02; C08L5/00; C08L89/00
Domestic Patent References:
WO2019046789A12019-03-07
WO2014108887A22014-07-17
Foreign References:
US20170275070A12017-09-28
US7067568B12006-06-27
Other References:
DENI GLAR DONIA, DHANINGTYAS SHALIHAT AFIFAH, FAJAR IBNU, SUDARNO: "Characterization and evaluation physical properties biodegradable plastic composite from seaweed (Eucheuma cottonii)", AIP CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS, vol. 1699, 29 December 2015 (2015-12-29), pages 1 - 5, XP055776667, ISSN: 0094-243X, DOI: 10.1063/1.4938336
Attorney, Agent or Firm:
Winuriska (ID)
Download PDF:
Claims:
Claims

1. A bioplastic packaging for container and tableware, compri sing of:

a. red seaweed from Eucheuma or Gracilaria and wafer as the raw material, in which the content of seaweed and water in the finished products are 13-88% and 10-13%, respectively, which are featured by certain characteristic such as flexible so that it will not fracture or broken when being pressed by hand or falling,

b. the mixture of biopolymer from polysaccharide or protein as the additional ingredients, including pectin, chitin, chitosan, starch, soy protein, wheat protein at 0-50%,

c. other ingredients such as mineral, flavor, coloring, plasitisizer, glazing agent, other food ingredients or food additives, that is needed to improve the product form, color, or appearance, at 0-10%.

2. A bioplastic packaging for container and tableware in claim 1, which the product could be dish, bowl, or cup with size 10mL - 1L.

3. A bioplastic packaging for container and tableware in claim 1, which the product could be pouch, lunch box, or cartoon with size 50mL - 1L,

4. A bioplastic packaging for container and tableware in claim 1, which the product could be spoon, fork and straw.

5. The method of producing bioplastic packaging from natural and renewable polymers comprising of some steps as follows :

a. immersing seaweed in water for at least 10 minutes so that the total weight and water content increase;

b. rinsing seaweed until clean, with or without followed by fermentation, either aerobic or anaerobically; c. cutting clean seaweed so that the length is no more than 1 cm, with or without followed by fermentation, either aerobic or anaerobically;

d. making seaweed gel by adding water with the ratio of seaweed to water from 1:1 to 1:10, with or without adding other biopolymer, fermented product, mineral, flavor, coloring, plastisizer, glazing agent, other food ingredients or food additives to form the gel; e. immersing the mold into gel or pouring the gel onto the mold;

f. drying the gel on the mold; and

g. releasing the dried gel from mold.

6. A process for making bioplastic packaging for container and tableware, according to claim 5, wherein the process may use protein flour dough and seaweed with the percentage ranges from 30-80%

7. A process for making bioplastic packaging for container and tableware, according to claim 5-6, wherein the raw material is the extract or flour or biopolymer mixture, that just need to be rehydrated and formed to obtain the finished products, as container or taibieware.

Description:
Description

BXOPLASTIC PACKAGING FOR CONTAINER FROM SEAWEED AND THE MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Our present invention relates to bioplastic packaging for container using seaweed as raw material, with or without fermentation and the manufacturing process thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In this modern age, there is ubiquitos container packaging which is used only once. In general, that packaging is made from low cost and water resistant material, such as plastic. However, if heat-tolerant container is needed, styrofoam or aluminum foil is used. Those products can be straw, spoon, fork, bread knife from plastic, while cup, bowl, and the lid are made from styrofoam, plastic, or paper laminated with plastic for its inner and outer layers.

In one side, those products provide convenience to the catering service providers and their consumers. In the other side, plastic and styrofoam have caused severe environmental problems. If not being solved immediately, it is estimated that in 2048, the sea will be the storage for plastic waste accumulation and fish will be rare. Based on carbondioxide emission, water and energy usage during paper production process, paper is not an environmentally friendly packaging material. Producing one kilogram of paper from pulp emits

700g of carbondioxide, or half of the carbondioxide that is used to produce plastic. To produce .1000 pound of paper, 8.92 million btus of energy is also needed, bigger than the amount of energy needed to produce plastic (4-8 million btus for 1000 pound of plastic) . Paper industry is also suspected as the main cause of deforestation and water scarcity in the world.

To overcome those problems, an environmentally friendly containers with affordable price, processed by environmentally friendly processing using environmentally friendly biomaterial, should be provided.

Some previous patents disclose the composition, processing technology, and the design of bioplastic as follows.

U.S. Patent No. 6,926,197 B2 discloses the strategy to decrease plastic content in disposable cup. The cup disclosed in that patent is made from corrugated paper coated with polyethylene plastic with the thickness are 0.006-0.010 inch and 0.004-0.008 inch for inner and outer layers, respectively. The thickness of corrugated paper is 0.012- 0.024 inch, so the total thickness will be 0.024-0.042 inch or 0.6-1.0 mm.

U.S. Pat. No, 6,423,357 B2 discloses the method of making cup from dried vegetable and fruit, which is cut to get the shape and coated with shortening or sugar.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,599 A discloses a cup with specific features such as safe for hands to hold hot water, recyclable, and strong enough. For the inner wall and base of cup, the water resistant material is used, such as paraffin and microcrystalline sellulose coated with 0.00025-0.002 inch of polyvinylidene chloride, polyethylene, or polypropylene, The cup also has an extended portion of the upper margin to form upper rim,

U.S, Pat. No, 6, 068,866 A discloses a cup for hot and cold beverages. The inner wall of this cup is made from almond coated with the mixture of sugar and starch (corn starch / arable gum) so that it is water resistant, including to hot water. This cup could he flavored by vanilla, cream, honey, and coffee. The cup disclosed in this invention is more water resistant and heat tolerant, so that it overcomes the weaknesses of prior arts, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,655 A, Patent DE-A 4231892 and Patent FR-A-2437996.

U.S. Patent Application 20040253346 discloses the edible cup from carbohydrate coated with beeswax. This cup is suitable for wine, juice, and mineral water. This cup is made from the mixture of gluten, barley flour, oatmeal, rice, corn, soy protein, glycerine, and vegetable oil. The wall of this cup is made as corrugated to make it stronger. The inner and outer of its wall are coated by paraffin, beeswax, and carnauba wax. Some additives, such as sugar, low calorie sweetener and flavor could be added in the cup formulation.

U.S. Patent Application 20060051603 discloses the cup for cold beverages using paper as matrix and two layers of copolyester. The first polyester helps the second polyester to adhere to paper matrix while the second polyester prevents paper deformation during cooling and increases the termal stability of paper. The monomers of those polyesters are benzyl-1, 4-dicarboxylic acid, aliphatic alcohol dihydrate, and cycloalcohol dihydrate. The weight of those polyester layers is 16-64g/m2. Those polyester layer could be attached with calcium carbonate as filler, heat sealable, and biodegradable according to ASTM D6400-99 and D6868. The polyester is added to the paper matrix by coextrusion method,

U.S. Patent Application 20140161944 discloses a flexible and edible container from agar, sugar, water, corn syrup, fruit and vegetable juice, flavor, color, glycerin, calcium chloride, and citric acid. This edible container could be made as clear, translucent, or opaque. This container can be filled with liquid at 32-180 deg.F for 24h before degraded.

U.S. Patent Application 20140356490 discloses the edible and flexible container from water, sugar, and hydrocolloid, and the manufacturing method thereof, in which the ingredients are mixed stepwisely after the previous ingredients have been homogenous or after the mixture achieves certain temperature during heating process.

U.S. Patent Application 20160324207 discloses an edible container with edible lid, or edible straw, made from water, sugar, syrup, and hydrocolloid, in which the content of syrup, sugar, and hydrocolloid are 25-45%, 20-40%, and 1-10%, respectively. The degradation rate of the product could be adjusted by adjusting the composition. The maximum thickness of this product is 0.5 inch, and can be coated by spraying technique. The water content in that product is 2-20% and could be stored at room temperature for up to 12 months.

Indonesia Patent IDP 000038531 discloses the making and biodegradation process of biodegradable plastic from forest products. The bioplastic is produced as stand-alone sheet or coating to a certain matrix.

Indonesia Patent IDP 000044135 discloses the process of making edible bioplastic from seaweed. The bioplastic is made as sheet and safe for human consumption.

This invention is proposed to overcome the weaknesses from the previous inventions, either paper-based product but still containing nondegradabie plastic as laminate, or edible containers. The process of making environmentally friendly and edible tableware as disclosed in prior arts usually needs manpower and longer time, so that the production cost becomes expensive .

In advance, this invention discloses a product which is a bioplastic packaging for containers as single use tableware, which is environmentally friendly, biodegradable, home compostable and industrial compostable. The intended bioplastic packaging in this invention is lunch box, mug, cup, lid, bowl, dish, spoon, fork, straw, and the like. The packaging in this invention could be used as container and tableware for food product in wide range temperature (4-94 °C) until 75 minutes without any leakage, fracture, or deformation that causes that container losses its function, and can stand alone.

Seaweed is used to make the product as disclosed in this invention, and could be mixed with dammar, lipid, and their derivatives and other natural biopolymers from polysaccharide or protein or both or their derivatives. The intended lipid in this invention are triacyl glycerol, phytosterol , fatty acid, and glycerol. The intended polysaccharides are tubers and roots, corn, microorganism metabolites, chitin and their derivatives. The intended protein is sourced from soy, wheat, nuts, legumes, and other protein, and their derivatives. The process of making tableware in this invention comprises of preparation of the biopolymer emulsion from seaweed colloid and dammar suspension, molding and drying. If the biopolymer is a combination of some polymers, then the biopolymer should be mixed into one homogenous colloid before dammar suspension is added. Then the final mixture is made as bioplastic by some techniques, including coating, dipping, casting, molding, and extrusion.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The main objectives of this invention are to provide the bioplastic for container and tableware with temperature application range 4-94 °C, for liquid, semisolid, and solid, and the manufacturing thereof. The tableware is intended for single use, environmentally friendly, biodegradable and compostable. The manufacturing process could be applied for small business (manual process) and big scale (automatic, big investment) .

Those objectives will be achieved by providing the method of making bioplastic packaging for container and tableware such as lunch box, dish, fork, spoon, knife, bowl, cup, and straw using seaweed as raw material comprising steps as follows:

- Immersing seaweed in water for at least 10 minutes so that the total weight and water content increase;

- Rinsing and washing the seaweed, with or without followed by either aerobic or anaerobic fermentation;

- Cutting the clean seaweed into small pieces with size less than 1 cm, with or without followed by either aerobic or anaerobic fermentation;

- Forming seaweed gel or dough by adding the water so that the ratio of seaweed to water from 1:1 to 1:10, with or without adding other biopolymer, fermented products, minerals, flavors, colorings, plastisizers, glazing agent, or other food ingredients or food additives to form the gel, or using extracts or flour to form gel or dough; - Dipping the mold into the gel bath or pouring the gel onto the mold or casting the dough to a certain form;

- Drying the gel or dough; and

~ Releasing the dry product from the mold,

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This invention is a biodegradable packaging as container and tableware for single use, environmentally friendly, biodegradable, and compostable (both industrial and home composting) .

The intended bioplastics as container and tableware in this invention are lunch box, cup, mug, bowl, lids, dish, spoon, fork, knife, straw, and the like. The tableware and container in this invention are applicable for food products with broad temperature range (from 4-94 °C) until 75 minutes without leakage, fracture, or deformation that causes the products loss their functions, and could stand alone on the surface .

Raw materials used in producing container and tableware in this invention are seaweed, which could be combined with dammar, lipid, and other natural biopolymers from polysaccharides or portein or both. The intended lipid can be triacyl glycerol, phytosterol, fatty acids, and glycerol. Polysaccharides can be tubers, roots, corn, microorganisms' metabolites, chitin, or their derivatives. The protein in this invention is from soy, wheat, and other plant-based protein, and their derivatives. This invention does not constrain the usage of other biopol.imer or food ingredients in the components .

The process of making container and tableware in this invention comprises of some steps as follows: making the colloid emulsion of seaweed and or with the mixture of dammar, polysaccharide, or protein; molding tableware; and drying to obtain the finished product. When the emulsion consists of more than one biopolymer, then the biopolymers should be homogenous before adding dammar. The shape of finished product could be made by some techniques, such as coating, dipping, casting, and molding. Extrusion and blow molding are also applicable to make the container and tableware using biopolymer composition as disclosed in this invention.

To make the environmentally straw with the design similar to plastic straw, the mold, which is usually called as pinbar, is dipped .into the emulsion at certain temperature in the dipping bath, and dried at certain temperature and humidity, with or without specific drying equipment. After the gel dried, it can be released from the pinbar and the straw is obtained. To facilitate finished product releasing step, food grade lubricant could be implemented onto the surface of pinbar, such as shortening, lechitin, margarine, butter, vegetable oil, or other oil-containing food ingredients. If the requirement is straw with a sharp edge, then the edge could be automatic cut by die before releasing or manually cut by scissors or cutter after harvesting. Extrusion is also applicable to make environmentally straw using the biopolymer in this invention.

Casting and molding are also applicable for making dish, spoon, fork, knife, cup, bowl, and lid. To make tableware, biopolymer emulsion is poured onto the mold, then the water content in the emulsion is reduced so that the emulsion will harden. Then, the finished product could be released from the mold, dried at certain time, temperature, and humidity. If the product is made by forming technique, the mixture is poured to the bath until certain height, then the water content is decreased to 20-30%, then it is put on the lower- side of the mold. Then, the upper side of mold is attached and pressed, so that the form of finished product will fit according the shape of the mold. Then, the product is released from the mold and further dried so that its water content decreases to 12%. The first and second steps of drying process are done at certain temperature and humidity. To facilitate the product releasing process, the surface of mold could be smeared with food grade lubricant, such as shortening, lecithin, margarine, butter, vegetable oil, ana oil-containing food ingredients. Blow molding technique is also applicable for making container and tableware using biopolymer as disclosed in this invention.

Some examples below describe this invention, but they are not intended to limit this invention.

Example 1: Producing straw from the mixture of seaweed and dammar without additional coloring

As much as 5Gg of dry seaweed is soaked in 1.5L of water for 10min-24h, then it is rinsed with clean water, drained, and chopped with water to obtain colloid with the viscosity 1200-6000 cps. In separate container, 10g of dammar is dissolved in 30-100mL of vegetable oil and filtrated to remove the oil-insoluble impurities. Then, the dammar filtrate is slowly added to the seaweed colloid using high speed mixer until homogenous.

Then, the pinbar is dipped into bath containing colloid at certain temperature and dried at certain temperature and humidity, with or without specific drying equipment. The dried straw is released from the pinbar. To facilitate releasing process, before dipping, the pinbar is smeared with lecithin .

Example 2: Producing straw from the mixture of seaweed, starch, and dammar without additional coloring

As much as 50g of dry seaweed is immersed in 1.5 L of water for 10min to 24h, then rinsed with clean water and drained, chopped and added with water to obtain colloid with viscosity 800-4000 cps. In the second container, 50g of starch is dissolved in 150-500 ml of water and cooked to obtain gelatinous starch. Then, seaweed colloid is stirred with gelatinous starch until homogenous. The starch in this example could be extracted from potato, corn, cassava, sweet potato, other starch, or their derivatives. In the third container, 20g of dammar is dissolved in 60-200mL of vegetable oil and filtrated to remove oil-insoluble impurities. Then, the dammar filtrate is slowly added to the mixture of seaweed and starch colloid using high speed mixer until homogenous. Then, the pinbar is dipped into dipping bath containing the colloid at certain temperature and dried at certain temperature and humidity, with or without specific drying equipment. The dried straw is released from the pinbar. To facilitate releasing process, before dipping, the pinbar is smeared with lecithin.

Example 3: Producing straw from the mixture of seaweed and protein without additional coloring

As much as 50g of dry seaweed is immersed in 1.5 L of water for lOmin to 24h, then rinsed with clean water and drained, chopped and added with water to obtain colloid with viscosity 800-4000 cps. In the second container, 10g of protein is dissolved in 150-500 ml of water with adjusted pH level according to the protein requirement, and stirred until homogenous. Then, seaweed and protein colloids are stirred until homogenous. The protein in this example could be sourced from soy, wheat, and other plant based protein. Then, the pinbar is dipped into the colloid in the dipping bath at certain temperature and dried at certain temperature and humidity, with or without specific drying equipment. The dried straw is released from the pinbar. To facilitate releasing process, before dipping, the pinbar is smeared with lecithin.

Example 4: Producing straw from the mixture of seaweed and protein without additional coloring

As much as 50g of dry seaweed is soaked in 1.5 L of water for 10min to 24h, then rinsed with clean water and drained, chopped and added with water to obtain colloid with viscosity 800-4000 cps. This colloid is then slowly added to high protein flour until smooth dough is obtained. This dough is then fed into the extruder which outlet is a ring. Then, the output of this extruder is dried with or without specific drying equipment, such as oven. The product could be steamed prior to drying. High protein flour in this example could be sourced from soy, wheat, and other plant based protein.

Example 5: Producing straw from the mixture of seaweed and chitosan without additional coloring

As much as 50g of dry seaweed is soaked in 1.5 L of water for 10min to 24h, then rinsed with clean water and drained, chopped and added with water to obtain colloid with viscosity 800-4000 cps . In the second container, 10g of chitosan is dissolved in 100-500 ml of acidic solution and stirred until homogenous.

Then, those colloids are stirred until homogenous. The acidic solution to dissolve chitosan in this example could be organic or inorganic acids, or the mixture thereof, such as acetic acid, phosphoric acid, lactic acid, citric acid, tartaric acid, or other acid, at 0.05-5%.

Then, the pinbar is dipped into the colloid in the dipping bath at certain temperature and dried at certain temperature and humidity, with or without specific drying equipment. Then, the dried straw is released from the pinbar. To facilitate releasing process, before dipping, the pinbar is smeared with lecithin.

Example 6: Producing spoon, fork, bowl, dish, cup, and knife from the mixture of seaweed and dammar without additional coloring

As much as 50g of dry seaweed is soaked in 1.5 L of water for 10min to 24h, then rinsed with clean water and drained, chopped and added with water to obtain colloid with viscosity 1200-6000 cps. In the second container, lOg of dammar is dissolved in 30-100mL of vegetable oil, filtrated to remove oil-insoluble impurities. Then, the dammar filtrate is slowly added to the seaweed colloid using high speed mixer until homogenous. Then, the colloid is poured to the spoon, fork, bowl, dish, or knife molds and rest for certain time until it hardens. The product is then released from the mold, dried until the water content achieves 12% in an oven at 50 deg . C .

Example 7. Producing spoon, fork, bowl, dish, cup, and knife from the mixture of seaweed and protein without additional coloring

As much as 50g of dry seaweed is soaked in 1.5 L of water for lOmin to 24h, then rinsed with clean water and drained, chopped and added with water to obtain colloid with viscosity 800-4000 cps . In the second container, 10g of protein is dissolved in 100-500 mL of water with adjusted pH level according to the type of protein, and stirred until homogenous. Then, thosed two colloids are mixed until homogenous. The protein in this example could be sourced from soy, wheat, or other plant based protein. Then, the final emulsion is poured to the spoon, fork, bowl, dish, or knife molds and rest for certain time until it hardens. The product is then released from the mold, dried until the water content achieves .12% in an oven at 50 deg.C.

Example 8: Producing spoon, fork, bowl, dish, cup, and knife from the mixture of seaweed and chitosan without additional coloring

As much as 50g of dry seaweed is soaked in 1.5 L of water for 10min to 2.4h, then rinsed with clean water and drained, chopped and added with water to obtain colloid with viscosity 800-4000 cps.

In the second container, 10g of chitosan is dissolved in 100-500 ml of acidic solution and stirred until homogenous. Then, those colloids are stirred until homogenous. The acidic solution to dissolve chitosan in this example could be organic or inorganic acids, or the mixture thereof, such as acetic acid, phosphoric acid, lactic acid, citric acid, tartaric acid, or other acid, at 0.05-5%.

Then, the final emulsion is poured to the spoon, fork, bowl, dish, or knife molds and rest for certain time until it hardens. The product is then released from the mold, dried until the water content achieves 12% in an oven at 50 deg.C.

Example 9: Producing spoon, fork, bowl, dish, cup, and knife from the mixture of seaweed, starch and dammar without additional coloring

As much as 5Qg of dry seaweed is soaked in 1.5 L of water for 10min to 24h, then rinsed with clean water and drained, chopped and added with water to obtain colloid with viscosity 800-4000 cps. In the second container, 50g of starch is dissolved in 150-500 ml of water and cooked to obtain gelatinous starch. Then, seaweed colloid is stirred with gelatinous starch until homogenous. The starch in this example could be extracted from potato, corn, cassava, sweet potato, other starch, or their derivatives. In the third container, 2Qg of dammar is dissolved in 60-200mL of vegetable oil, filtrated to remove oil insoluble impurities. Then, the dammar filtrate is slowly added to the mixture of seaweed and starch colloid using high speed mixer until homogenous .

Then, the final emulsion is poured to the spoon, fork, bowl, dish, or knife molds and rest for certain time until it hardens. The product is then released from the mold, dried until the water content achieves 12% in an oven at 50 deg.C.

Example 10: Producing spoon, fork, bowl, dish, cup, and knife from the mixture of seaweed and protein without additional coloring

As much as 50g of dry seaweed is soaked in 1.5 L of water for lOmin to 24h, then rinsed with clean water and drained, chopped and added with water to obtain colloid with viscosity 800-4000 cps. This colloid is then slowly added to high protein flour until smooth dough is obtained. This dough is then pressed to make its thickness become 0.05-2.0mm before putting on the lower side of mold. Then, the upper side of mold is attached and pressed at certain pressure so that the sheet becomes bowl, dish, or other tableware, according to the mold. Then, the product is released from the mold and further dried so that its water content decreases to 12%. High protein flour in this example could be sourced from soy, wheat, and other plant based protein.

Example 11. Producing bowl, dish, spoon, fork, cup, knife, and straw through fermentation process.

Bowl, dish, spoon, fork, cup, knife, and straw made by the method as described in Example 1-9, could be made from the biomaterial that has undergone fermentation process. Fermentation is done before the biomaterial is processed to obtain gel. Fermentation is done either aerobically or anaerobically, using pure culture or indigenous microbes from certain food ingredients, that is safe for human consumption. The microbe is from bacteria, yeast and mold.

Example 12. Producing bowl, dish, spoon, fork, cup, knife, and straw with the presence of mineral, flavor, coloring, plasitisizer, glazing agent, other food ingredients or food additives .

Bowl, dish, spoon, fork, cup, knife, and straw made by the method as described in Example 1-11, is added with other ingredients to improve the mechanical stability, heat resistance, color or texture of the product. The other ingredients that can be added are mineral, flavor, coloring, plasitisizer, glazing agent, and the mixture thereof. Those ingredients are added during producing the gel or colloid, as solid, liquid or solution.