Overview

Novomer’s plastics have excellent stiffness, clarity, and oxygen barrier properties that allow them to be used in food, and other flexible and rigid consumer packaging applications where these properties are critical.

Novomer plastics can be used by themselves or in blends with polyolefins, starch based plastics and other polymers. They can be formed into a wide variety of commercial applications using common conversion processes.

Improved Barrier Layer

Novomer's materials exhibit oxygen barrier properties that are over several orders of magnitude greater than traditional petroleum-based plastics. Since the presence of oxygen typically accelerates food spoilage, barrier layers are integrated into traditional packaging plastics. This allows food containers to have suitable structural properties to function as a container and provide a usable shelf life for the food being stored. These films are constructed by laminating three to seven layers of film, each with a unique performance attribute.

Currently ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) and polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) are used as the barrier layer in most flexible and rigid packaging applications. These petroleum based plastics require significant amounts of energy to manufacture and release large amounts of greenhouse gases in the process. PEC not only offers similar performance but sequesters carbon dioxide from the environment.