Co-Extrusion Technology for Oxygen Scavenging Package, 1996 Polymers, Laminations & Coatings Conference Proceedings

“OXYGUARD” developed by Toyo Seikan Kaisha,Ltd. is a new oxygen scavenging technology utillizing the oxidation reaction of reduced iron blended in the container wall to improve barrier performance and reduce residual oxygen in the container. The “OXYGUARD” tray with the oxygen absorbable layer consisting of the blend of polypropylene (PP) and reduced iron has been commercialized for semi-aseptic cooked rice. In the next step, to develop a retortable high oxygen barrier package, we worked on the multi-layer structure that has a middle layer made of ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH) ,which has high oxygen barrier performance, blended with reduced iron. EVOH is easy to degrade thermally by reduced iron. Therefore, it was essential for us to apply our latest blending and extrusion technology to prevent the thermal degradation of EVOH and keep the uniform dispersion of reduced iron. This paper will discuss this blending and extrusion technology for EVOH and reduced iron.