Natural paper-layered composites with air barrier properties achieved by coating with bacterial cellulose

Abstract

In some respects the safest food packaging material is paper that is completely free of chemical additives, made only from primary cellulosic fibers. There is no information in the literature on giving paper barrier properties using nanocellulose without any additives, especially bacterial cellulose, by applying a coating to a fibrous semi-product. In order to prepare paper-layered composites, paper sheets made of beaten or non-beaten softwood or hardwood cellulose pulp, or their 50/50 (wt./wt.) mix, were used in the experiment. After the application of bacterial cellulose onto the sheets, the paper became completely impermeable to air, which means that fine microbial fibers had filled the voids (pores) between plant cellulose fibers. The results of the experiment could be regarded as a perfect, biodegradable packaging material.