Fruit Logistica 2020

••• 10••• Innovationen Turning banana waste into food packaging Australian researchers develop a technology to turn banana waste into a nanocellulose lm R esearchers at the University of New South Wales, Australia, have developed a process to turn banana plantation waste into a nanocellulose film that could have applications in food packaging. Jayashree Arcot, Associate Pro- fessor of Chemical Engineering, and Martina Stenzel, Co-director of the Centre for Advanced Mac- romolecular Design at UNSW, wanted to use agricultural waste as a feedstock for other products and decided to use the banana plant. The fruit only comprises 12 per cent of the plant and the rest is usually discarded after the fruit is harvested. “What makes the banana-growing business par- ticularly wasteful compared to other fruit crops is the fact that the plant dies after each harvest,” said Arcot. “We were particularly interested in the pseudostems – basically the layered, fleshy trunk of the plant which is cut down af- ter each harvest and mostly dis- carded on the field. Some of it is used for textiles, some as com- post, but other than that, it’s a huge waste.” They used pseudostems from plants grown at The Royal Botan- ic Garden Sydney to extract cel- lulose, the structural component in plant cell walls. Solid material makes up around 10 per cent of the pseudostem with the rest be- ing water. “In theory you can get nanocellulose from every plant, it’s just that some plants are bet- ter than others in that they have higher cellulose content,” said Stenzel. The pseudostem is chopped and then dried at low temperatures in a drying oven, before being milled into a very fine powder. It is then placed in an alkaline solution to ex- tract nanocellulose which is then made into a film. “Nanocellulose is a material of high value with a whole range of applications,” said Stenzel. “One of those appli- cations that interested us greatly was packaging, particularly sin- gle-use food packaging where so much ends up in landfill. The nanocellulose film can have dif- ferent applications depending on the thickness. It could be used as shopping bags or as food packag- ing such as the trays used for fresh food. The new material is recycla- ble, biodegradable, and non-toxic. The researchers tested its biodeg- radability by putting it in soil for six months and showed that it was disintegrating. They also tested its recyclability and it was recycled three times without a change in properties. There are also no con- tamination risks with food. The researchers suggested that the supply chain could be adapt- ed to make use of the banana pro- duction waste. This would work best if the banana industry could start processing the pseudostems into powder which could then be sold to packaging suppliers. Banana plants for food packaging Photo: Abbs Johnson Active container for veggies Researchers are able to extend shelf life by 40 per cent A group of researchers from the Polytechnic University of Cartagena (UPCT) has devel- oped an active container capable of extend- ing the shelf life of the vegetables contained in it by more than 40 per cent, significantly reducing the amount of spoilage. This has been the main conclusion of the doctoral thesis of Laura Buendía Moreno, focused on the study of the performance of this active cardboard container when it contains fresh tomatoes and peppers. This new packaging solution, marketed under the Newfresh brand by the Murcian corrugated cardboard company SAECO, uses essential oils encapsulated with cyclo- dextrin, a natural polysaccharide, to delay the development of microorganisms capa- ble of affecting the product quality, such as molds and bacteria, UPCT sources re- ported in a statement. “The encapsulation prevents the essential oils from altering the smell or taste of the products and allows a modulated release of these oils, which ex- ert an antimicrobial action that ensures the preservation of the packaged product,“ said Buendía. The tests carried out during the thesis have simulated agro-industrial packaging and the transport of tomatoes and peppers, concluding that Newfresh active packaging significantly reduces the presence of rotten products compared with conventional card- board boxes, extending the shelf life of the product and allowing it to reach more distant destinations with the highest qual- ity. The container, already patented, is de- signed to facilitate exports, allowing fruit and vegetable products to be shipped to new destinations with a guarantee of opti- mal preservation. Large companies in the agro-food sector have already successfully tested these ac- tive cardboard boxes. Extended shelf life for peppers and to- matoes Photo: Sydney Rae Kühlschrank auf R dern Nissan testet Elektrofahrzeug im Obsttransport Nissan Motor Co. gab bekannt, dass im Dezember letzten Jahres in Zusammenarbeit mit einem Erdbeerfarmer in Yamamoto, Prä- fektur Miyagi im Nordosten Ja- pans, ein Test zum Transport von frischen Erdbeeren mit einem Elektrofahrzeug gestartet wurde. Für den Test wurde ein in ein Kühl- fahrzeug umgebautes Nutzfahr- zeug e-NV200 verwendet, um Erdbeeren unter Beibehaltung der Frische zu versenden. Da die Früchte bei Lagerung im Kühlschrank in der Regel ihre Qua- lität behalten, werden sie nach der Ernte gekühlt und zu Einrich- tungen zum Sortieren und Verpa- cken transportiert. Durch den Einsatz emissionsfreier Fahrzeuge, bei denen Kohlenmo- noxid-Abgase vermieden werden, können die Landwirte Erdbeeren in die Fahrzeuge laden, während sie sich in Gewächshäusern aus Kunststoff befinden. „Für uns ist eine Beteiligung an solchen Versuchen sehr wichtig und Teil der Marke Nissan“, so ein Mitarbeiter. Verlag: CONNEX Print & Multimedia AG Lavesstraße 3 30159 Hannover Telefon: +49 511 830936 Telefax: +49 511 56364608 E-Mail: connex@die-messe.de Internet: www.die-messe.de Auflage IVW-geprüft. Auflagengruppe: E Redaktion: Stina Bebenroth Verantwortlich für den Anzeigenteil: Sascha Könecke Druck: Berliner Zeitungsdruck GmbH, 10365 Berlin Impressum FRUIT LOGISTICA 2020 MESSEJOURNAL DIE MESSE