Carton Packaging Research Articles

New approach for evaluating the repellent activity of essential oils against storage pests using a miniaturized model of stored-commodity packaging and a wooden transport pallet

Essential oils (EOs) are promising compounds for repellent protection of packed commodities or processed food against storage insect pests. Currently, the efficacy of EOs has been tested only when applied to packages, whereas no tests are available for real-world situations in which products are placed on cardboard spacers and transport pallets. Therefore, the aim of this work was to test the effects of placing products on pallets and the treatment of packaging with bergamot essential oil as repellent of storage pests. Due to the size constraint posed by the size of pallets and packaging, miniaturized models were designed and constructed. In this work, we experimentally determined (i) the pest behavioral modification resulting from placing untreated packaging (i.e., without repellent treatment) containing untreated food on a miniaturized pallet vs. placing it on a simulated floor surface and (ii) the repellent effect of bergamot oil applied separately to carton packaging (containing untreated food), wooden pallets or cardboard pallet spacers located between the pallet and packaging on two key storage pests (Sitophilus granarius and Tribolium confusum). The beetle infestation was assessed as a number of beetles in the packaging, and the EO repellency was assessed as number of beetles in the packaging and in the cardboard. The placement of untreated packaging on untreated pallets and spacers decreased packaging infestation by both species in comparison with the placement of products directly on the floor surface. The treatment of various parts of the packaging set (i.e., food packaging, pallet, and cardboard spacer) with bergamot oil had significant repellent activity that was generally more apparent for S. granarius than for T. confusum. The wooden pallet treatment had a greater and longer (i.e., 24 h) repellent effect than the packaging or cardboard spacer treatment on the tested pests. The results showed that the treatment of some parts (such as pallets and cardboard spacers) of the packaging set with essential oils may make it unnecessary to treat primary food/commodity packaging. This may have profound implications for the use and acceptance of essential oils as insect repellents under industrial conditions, since producers may worry about the migration of EOs from the primary packaging to food. Moreover, the miniaturized packaging model presented in this study allowed effective EO repellent testing in large assays in a limited space (e.g., 360 miniaturized model pallets were used in this experiment, and testing this volume of actual Euro pallets would require an area of 346 m2).

Upcycling polyamide containing post-consumer Tetra Pak carton packaging to valuable chemicals and recyclable polymer

Billion tons of post-consumer Tetra Pak cartons are discarded annually as land and ocean wastes, creating significant environmental problems and resource losses. Recycling of the carton wastes is hindered by its multi-material compositions and low values of the recycled products. In this study, a novel upcycling of the cartons was investigated. A post-consumer carton consisting of paper, polyolefin, and polyamide was directly converted in 210–230 °C tetrahydrofuran containing 10–20 mM acid to produce up to 19.2% of levoglucosenone and 8.6% of furfural by selectively decomposing paper fraction. The remaining solids containing mostly intact polyethylene and polyamide but also a smaller fraction of paper-derived char were separated using a solvent-dissolution method. The xylene-soluble fraction was a recycled polymer similar to the original polyethylene, which was verified by its functional groups, the composition of the pyrolysis products, and the melt rheology results. The xylene-insoluble fraction was a mixture of polyamide and paper-derived char. Upon pyrolysis, caprolactam was produced as the only major vapor product. The remaining, thermally stable paper-derived char could be used as a high-quality solid fuel. Overall, the demonstrated recycling method could potentially maximize the values of the products recovered from carton wastes.

Conical spouted beds for waste valorization: Assessment of particle segregation in beds composed of sand and Tetra Pak residues

Pyrolysis is a sustainable, clean, and innovative technology to obtain high added value products. A conical spouted bed composed of binary mixtures can be used as a promising reactor for the pyrolysis of solids due to its high heat transfer rate. For the start-up of the plant, low levels of axial particle segregation in the bed are needed. As an innovative aspect, this research proposes to use a statistical method to investigate particle concentration uniformity along the conical bed. Results reveal conical spouted beds presents uniform axial composite concentration when dealing with sand and polyethylene/aluminum composite mixtures. The axial uniformity of composite in the bed enables the reactor application in the thermal recycling of carton packaging waste using a sustainable waste route. The experimental design shows both polyethylene/aluminum composite concentration and particle diameter ratio of sand and composite affect axial particle segregation in the bed. Model equations have a good adjustment to the experimental data and predict results with an error of <10%.

Life cycle assessment of bacterial cellulose production

Bacterial cellulose (BC), obtained by fermentation, is an innovative and promising material with a broad spectrum of potential applications. Despite the increasing efforts towards its industrialization, a deeper understanding of the environmental impact related to the BC production process is still required. This work aimed at quantifying the environmental, health, and resource depletion impacts related to a production of BC. An attributional life cycle assessment (LCA) was applied to a process design of production of BC, by static culture, following a cradle-to-gate approach. The LCA was modeled with GaBi Pro Software using the ReCiPe 2016 (H) methodology with environmental impact indicators at midpoint level. The functional unit was defined as 1 kg of BC (dry mass), in 138.8 kg of water. From the total used resources (38.9 ton/kg of BC), water is the main one (36.1 ton/kg of BC), most of which (98%) is returned to fresh waters after treatment. The production of raw materials consumed 17.8 ton of water/kg of BC, 13.8 ton/kg of BC of which was for the production of carton packaging, culture medium raw materials, and sodium hydroxide (for the washing of BC). The remaining consumed water was mainly for the fermentation (3.9 ton/kg) and downstream process (7.7 ton/kg). From the identified potential environmental impacts, the production of raw materials had the highest impact, mainly on “Climate change”, “Fossil depletion”, “Human toxicity, non-cancer”, and “Terrestrial toxicity”. The sodium dihydrogen phosphate production, used in the culture medium, showed the highest environmental impacts in “Human toxicity, non-cancer” and “Terrestrial ecotoxicity”, followed by corn syrup and carton production. The static culture fermentation and downstream process showed impact in “Climate change” and “Fossil depletion”. Per se, the BC production process had a small contribution to the consumption of resources and environmental impact of the BC global life cycle.

Thermochemical Conversion of Waste Carton Packaging from Express Delivery: Pyrolytic Kinetics, Catalytic Graphitization, and Products Properties

Thermochemical Conversion of Waste Carton Packaging from Express Delivery: Pyrolytic Kinetics, Catalytic Graphitization, and Products Properties

Consumer-centered design of the secondary packaging for industrial pharmaceuticals

The paper introduces the idea of consumer-centered carton packaging for pharmaceutical products, as well as an implemented by means of CAD its design and a 3D-model. The engineering solution proposed by the authors implements the "untouchable" principle consisting in meeting completely the information needs of the potential consumer as to the selected pharmaceutical product maintaining the integrity of its industrial packaging. Statistical analysis of the results of consumer surveys on the feasibility of using the proposed design of consumer-oriented packaging is carried out taking into account the views of potential audiences, eco-trends and gender equality. The developed design can be used by large pharmaceutical companies for simple, cheap and effective promotion of pharmaceuticals that use cardboard for secondary packaging.

Analisis Tingkat Kecacatan Produk Cetak Kemasan Karton Lipat Dengan Pendekatan DMAIC Six Sigma

The map of competition in the business world in the industrial sector makes consumers' demands on the quality of products produced even higher so that the industry has an obligation to provide the best service to consumers in order to maintain the sustainability of its business. This is evenly distributed in all industrial sectors including the printing industry. Based on preliminary observations at one of the large printing presses in Jabodetabek the failure rate of printed folding carton packaging products produced is still quite large. The integrated production process makes the process results affect each other the number of defects in the next process. The results of observations show that of the 3 main processes of folding cardboard packaging production at PT.X, the aim of printing and ponding has the highest defect percentage of 47% and 44% of the total defect, while the glueing process has the lowest percentage of 7% with a total total defect of 827,347 packages of a total production of 4,735,350. From the results of data recapitulation and calculation of the number of defects, it can be seen that the sigma value of the company with the sample production data taken has an average sigma of 3.6. Through the application of the Six Sigma DMAIC method this research seeks to provide solutions in overcoming the problems of defective products that occur during the production process so that the main purpose of the printing industri in increasing productivity can be achieved.

Chemical food safety of using former foodstuffs for rearing black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) for feed and food use

Black soldier fly (BSF, Hermetia illucens) larvae is considered one of the insect species with great potential for large-scale production as feed and food. For this to become economically feasible and to contribute to a circular economy, BSF larvae should be reared on substrates with little or no alternative use for feed and food production. One such class of alternative substrate sources consists of former food products. However, BSF larvae may accumulate chemical contaminants from the substrate, which may originate from the foodstuff and/or the packaging materials. This study aimed to investigate the possible presence of chemical contaminants in BSF larvae being reared on former foodstuff substrates at both laboratory and industrial scale. Four experimental treatments were set up: with meat or vegetarian, and containing between 3-6% of either plastic or paperboard carton packaging material. Four-day old BSF larvae were reared for seven days on these substrates. Concentrations of heavy metals, mineral oil hydrocarbons, dioxins and PCBs, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were determined in the substrate, residual material, and the larvae. Results suggest that BSF larvae can be reared on former food products containing traces of packaging materials, without negative effects on their growth or survival. Bio-accumulation was observed for most of the tested contaminants, in particular for mineral oils and cadmium, which had a bio-accumulation rate of, respectively, about five and 20. However, none of the concentrations of the analysed contaminants in the substrate and the larvae exceeded the respective legal limits in the EU. Results of this pilot study were promising. As a next step, more different former food products should be investigated in future research.

Recuperação de resíduos de embalagens cartonadas através da pirólise: um estudo bibliométrico

A análise bibliométrica é um método que possibilita avaliar quantitativamente a produção acadêmica através da análise de documentos existentes. Este artigo teve como objetivo analisar as características das publicações relacionadas ao tema recuperação de resíduos cartonados através da pirólise. A pesquisa foi realizada na base de dados Web of Science (WOS) do Clarivate Analytics. Inicialmente foi realizada a busca por artigos que contém a palavra “Pyrolysis” em seu tópico, posteriormente, foi realizado um refinamento dos artigos adicionando o termo “Carton Packages” e “Tetra Pak”. Para realizar as análises, foi utilizada a ferramenta “Analisar resultados” fornecida pela Web of Science (WOS) permitindo gerar informações relacionadas ao número de publicações, países, áreas de pesquisas e tipos de publicações, além dos softwares VOSviewer e CiteSpace possibilitando a criação de redes de coautoria de organização, coautoria de países, coautoria de autores, cocitação de referências, cocitação de periódicos e coocorrência de palavras-chave e por fim, sendo realizada uma Matriz SWOT (Strenghts, Weaknesses, Opportunities e Threats). A partir do termo “Pyrolysis” foram encontradas 101.368 publicações, sendo 8.974 no último ano. Dentre os países com maior número de publicações sobre o tema, destacam-se a China e os Estados Unidos. Adicionando os termos “Carton Packages” e “Tetra Pak” foram encontradas 23 publicações, sendo o maior número encontrado no ano de 2018. Além disso, o Brasil é o país com o maior número de publicações. Isso mostra que, nos últimos anos foram realizadas inúmeras pesquisas sobre o tema recuperação de resíduos cartonados através da pirólise, com o objetivo de melhorar a eficiência dos processos e que permitam ampliar as escalas de produção. O aumento de interesse se dá, devido à necessidade em buscar soluções para a diminuição do impacto ambiental e gerenciamento dos resíduos sólidos, causado pelo descarte inadequado do mesmo. Além do ponto de vista econômico, possibilitando a geração de produtos com alto valor agregado.

Production lines of honeycomb paper panels as a substitute for corrugated cardboard for improving environmental impact and economic feasibility

Cardboard industry in the packaging system is one of the pioneering industries that many depend on, so research and studies do not stop to develop this field in an attempt to find alternative solutions for recycled materials by reducing the paper consumption used to produce carton packs, appeared the technology of paper panels honeycombs. This technique relied on the hexagonal shape that resembles hives, in order to distribute pressures on the packaging in all directions. The experimental work demonstrated the ability of this type of carton to withstand high mechanical pressure compared to the corrugated cardboard. Also, the amount of paper consumed to produce the carton packaging system using the honey comb system is much less than the amount of paper used to produce the package in the corrugated cardboard system.

Discrete event simulation to aid decision-making and mitigation in solid waste management

This article aims to evaluate municipal solid waste (MSW) management schemes in order to promote sustainability and eco-efficiency, core elements in global mitigation strategies in both public and private policies. A discrete event simulation (DES) approach was used to integrate the economic, environmental, and social aspects related to aseptic carton packages (ACP) in Itajuba, Brazil. The simulated scenarios consider three alternatives for disposing ACP: landfills, recycling, and incineration with energy recovery. According to our findings, incineration alternatives are preferred from an eco-efficiency perspective, given the potential greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions and due to the possibility of energy recover, which reinforces the contribution of this technology to promote sustainability as largely found in the international literature. Given the context of MSW management in Brazil, this represents a significant opportunity to increase the effectiveness of mitigation strategies adopted in the country. Taking into account that this is by far the least applied technology, the authors strongly advocate that global strategies for mitigation consider different approaches to integrate carbon dioxide (CO2) emission reductions related to the entire MSW management system and its alternatives, thus advancing from a waste disposal-oriented system to a life cycle–oriented system.

A perspective on knowledge sharing and lean management: an empirical investigation

ABSTRACT We conducted a single-case study analysis of a global leading manufacturer of carton packaging for food and beverages, to reveal linkages between knowledge sharing (KS) and lean management (LM) and examine the moderating role of corporate culture. Such linkages, ensure that lean knowledge acquired during a company’s transformation from conventional management to lean, is appropriately shared to all interested parties. In this context, the study findings revealed that there are enablers (e.g., employee involvement in decision making; common targets and goals) and disablers (e.g., time constraints; extreme workload; complicated KMS) of KS in a lean context. Firms need to take into account both enablers and disablers in order to minimize “knowledge waste” and achieve successful lean outcomes. These KS-LM relationships highlight a need for organizations to depart from the mere operational view of lean to a holistic one by drawing attention to a “soft” paradigm into the maximization of lean.

Consumer Preference Level on Cinnamomum burmanii Tea with Analytic Hierarchy Process Method

Cinnamon is one of the popular ingredients used as food additives or nonfood. Cinnamon has smells fragrant and sweet taste, it can be used as additional ingredient for tea bag production. Tea with additional cinnamon is one of product innovation of tea bag for increase functional value of tea. The purpose of this research is to know consumer preferences level of cinnamon tea based on internal attribute (colour, taste, and scent) and external attribute (packaging design, packaging material, information label, size and content of packaging) using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. The result of consumer preferences of cinnamon tea based on Analitic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method as primary alternative for internal attribute based on color, taste, and smell is 2:1 formulation of ratio tea powder and cinnamon powder. The primary alternative of external attribute based on design, material, information label, size of packaging is prototype C (carton packaging).

Steam gasification for waste valorization with energy recovery

Steam gasification seems a promising technology of waste transformation since the steam is the only oxidizing reagent in the process and gaseous carrier of volatiles. Gasses are equilibrated at high temperature for conversion to the H2-rich syngas. After this step, the excess of steam condenses during cooling, together with non-converted tars, oils and fine particles. Condensing steam efficiently absorbs hydrogen bromide and hydrogen chloride. The use of steam eliminates carbonaceous residue from the solid mineral/metal product, which is convenient for further processing (for example extraction of metals). The syngas and the solid residue are generally the only products of gasification, because aqueous condensate may be returned to the process together with non-volatile hydrocarbons and sediments. The process was illustrated by laboratory scale gasification experiments with a) carton packaging, b) abrasive disc, c) pork bones, d) Cu multiwire cable e) PC/AT card and f) inverter (PCB board). The mineral/metal products of gasification may be considered as a raw materials for further processing, including typical routes of metals recovery. There is no direct emission to the atmosphere from the process. However, providing the energy from the syngas back to the reactor as well as the energy balance of steam condensation and recirculation of condensate to the reactor need careful analysis.

Brazilian Consumer Preferences for Processed Tomato Packaging Using Conjoint Analysis

ABSTRACTBrazil is the largest producer and consumer of processed tomato products in Latin America. However, the consumption preferences related to this product are poorly studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of certain characteristics of processed tomato product packaging on Brazilian consumer preferences. The revised Personal Involvement Inventory (PII) and conjoint analysis (CA) were applied to 206 consumers in Brazil. Four packaging attributes were evaluated: colour (green, red, and yellow); material (sachets, tin, and brick carton packaging); the presence of additional information; and the presence of “easy-open” devices. The CA technique showed that in general, the Brazilian participants were influenced positively by red brick carton and sachet packaging and by the presence of additional information and a device that facilitated opening the package. The results presented in this study are useful for the food industry to develop packaging and marketing strategies using consumer profiles.

Banana leaf as packaging of lulo for different storage temperatures and the effects on postharvest characteristics

In Colombia, the small and médium farmers are responsible for the production of nearly 45.000 t yr-1 of lulo (Solanum quitoense). However adequate and easy techniques for postharvest handling are not often available to be implemented by this sector of the producers. This research aimed to study banana (Musa paradisiaca) leaf as primary packaging to minimize the loss of quality of lulo stored at different temperatures. Chemical and physiological quality parameters were considered in the analysis of the maturation process. Loss weight, color changes in CIELAB coordinates, total titratable acidity (TTA), Young's modulus and firmness were measured to represent the fruit quality. Use of banana leaf as primary package show that weight losses and the color changes result of the ripening process were decreased. The color changes of lulo skin were significantly affected by storage temperature. To avoid changes in TTA, mechanical damage is not recommended. When the lulo fruits were packed with banana leaves, the Young's modulus and firmness values was higher. The results of this research allow the comparison of quality of lulo in the packaging proposal and the results of others researchers who use conventionally packaging like wood crates and carton packaging. The proposal packaging configuration (lulos packed with banana leaf in plastic crates of 80x60x20 cm) is an easy alternative to get and preserve the quality of lulo fruits for a longer storage time.

CFD analysis of fluidized beds using wastes from post-consumer carton packaging

Fluidized bed reactors can be used for fast pyrolysis of polyethylene-aluminum composite (LDPE/Al) to achieve good gas-solid mixing together with high rates of heat and mass transfer in bed columns. Pyrolysis of waste from post-consumer carton package (i.e., polyethylene-aluminum composite) reduces the manufacturing costs of new packages as it permits to produce them using the recovered aluminum and polyethylene in the process. Therefore, this research aims at modelling and analyzing the gas-solid flow in fluidized beds composed of sand and LDPE/Al mixtures. For all mixtures used, results show that gas-solid flow can be well described by the Eulerian-Eulerian Granular model coupled with the usage of parameterized Syamlal-O’Brien’s model for momentum transfer between phases. For bed mixtures with up to 20% LDPE/Al composite, the bed pressure drop can be predicted by the model with an error of less than 18%. In addition, for bed mixtures operating at air velocities higher than 50% minimum fluidization, significant segregation of LDPE/Al was not observed. This result indicates that bed mixtures can achieve a good gas-solid contact in the bubble fluidization regime and can be used as a fluidized bed reactor for pyrolysis of wastes from post-consumer carton packages.

CFD modeling of conical spouted beds for processing LDPE/Al composite

Several routes of reusing carton packaging waste have been proposed along the years. Pyrolysis of carton waste has been highlighted due to obtain high value-added products such as paraphinic oils and aluminum. Recently, the spouted bed has been investigated as a promising reactor for pyrolysis of solids. By suitably setting up pyrolysis, a fully investigative procedure of three phase (air-LDPE/Al-sand) flow dynamics in the conical spouted bed is needed. Thus, this research aims at analyzing the fluid dynamics behavior of conical spouted beds comprised mixtures of sand and LDPE/Al composite. Eulerian-granular multiphase model for describing the air-particle mixture flow in a conical spouted bed is used. By using the computational fluid dynamics and bi-dimensional structured grid, the solution of model equations is obtained. In addition, the following models are tested: laminar, mixture k-ε, per phase k-ε and disperse k-ε models. Based on data analyses, it can be identified that disperse k-ε model describes better air-particles flow in conical spouted beds comprised sand and LDPE/Al composites mixtures. The results show that bed pressure drop and fountain height are in agreement with those predicted by disperse k-ε model.

Determination of activation energy of pyrolysis of carton packaging wastes and its pure components using thermogravimetry

Many processes have been used for recycling of carton packaging wastes. The pyrolysis highlights as a promising technology to be used for recovering the aluminum from polyethylene and generating products with high heating value. In this paper, a study on pyrolysis reactions of carton packaging wastes and its pure components was performed in order to estimate the kinetic parameters of these reactions. For this, dynamic thermogravimetric analyses were carried out and two different kinds of kinetic models were used: the isoconversional and Independent Parallel Reactions. Isoconversional models allowed to calculate the overall activation energy of the pyrolysis reaction, in according to their conversions. The IPR model, in turn, allowed the calculation of kinetic parameters of each one of the carton packaging and paperboard subcomponents. The carton packaging pyrolysis follows three separated stages of devolatilization. The first step is moisture loss. The second stage is perfectly correlated to devolatilization of cardboard. The third step is correlated to devolatilization of polyethylene.

Effect of fiber reinforcement on mixed-mode fracture of polymer mortars

The present paper is concerned with the failure analysis of cracked polymer mortar reinforced with particles from waste Tetra Pak® aseptic carton packages, piassava lees and glass fiber in combined mode I and II. The Brazilian disk, a classic mixed mode fracture test specimen, was adopted for the experimental characterization of the crack initiation. A slight increase in critical stress intensity factors was observed with the addition of carton particles and piassava lees. Glass fiber reinforcement promotes the highest fracture resistance to crack propagation.