Why barrier properties of MFC may influence the taste & quality of your coffee

Otto Soidinsalo | January 17, 2017


The biggest change in the coffee culture in recent years has been the way people prepare their coffee at home. An increasing number of households use single serve brewing (pods, capsules) for producing a fresh cup of coffee, resulting in an increased amount of waste. Replacing the current coffee packing materials is not straightforward, and obviously there are several challenges related to it. In this blog post I will play with the idea how microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) could support the development of new, more environmentally friendly, compostable or biodegradable coffee capsules.

The single-served coffee is often brewed from capsules made of plastic or aluminum, with or without a paper filter. There is a definite challenge when it comes to the recyclability of the empty coffee capsules, regardless the material(s) from which they are produced.

Read also: MFC and Life cycle assessment


Importance of well performing coffee capsules

The packing of ground coffee requires accurate methods. Moisture, oxygen, and light will all affect the quality, but oxygen is the enemy number one. Oxidation of the acids, aromatics, and oils in coffee, meaning the essential components for the taste, will lead to a bad tasting cup of coffee. Ground coffee is often packed in plastic bags, containing a layer of aluminum or other high oxygen barrier products. In the single used capsules, the challenge is even bigger, as the surface of the packing is relatively large, related to the amount of coffee. Therefore, the packing material should have extremely low oxygen as well as moisture permeability.

Compostable and biodegradable coffee capsules 

The most common commercially available compostable plastics nowadays are polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and thermoplastic starch. Unfortunately, many of them have only decent to low barrier properties. Also, there are challenges related to the strength and processability of the plastics. Despite these difficulties, several companies have already introduced their versions of either compostable or biodegradable coffee capsules, such as Ahlstrom, Lavazza and Ethical Coffee Company.

MFC as a barrier material in multilayer products

Unlike the compostable plastics, MFC shows excellent oxygen barrier properties. The following values, taken from a review article by Aulin et al., demonstrate that MFC is a much better oxygen barrier than, for example, PLA. Moreover, MFC also acts as an efficient oil barrier.

Material Oxygen permeability
(cm3 μm/m2 day kPa)
Conditions
Unmodified MFC 3.52-5.03 50% RH
Carboxymethylated MFC 0.85 50% RH
Carboxymethylated MFC 0.0006 0% RH
PLA 184 0% RH
EVOH 0.01-0.1 0% RH

 

Clearly, there are also challenges; The barrier properties of MFC depend on humidity. One option to overcome this is to combine MFC with a more hydrophobic material. The traditional way to modify the properties of polymers is to mix different polymers to enhance the properties. As for MFC, one should also consider multilayer approach, since MFC, as a high shear thinning polymer, can be easily applied to surfaces, for example by spraying. MFC also has excellent adhesion to several materials. In particular on the ones containing functionalities capable of forming hydrogen bonding.

As we may have learned, MFC can act as an effective oxygen barrier when used together with moisture barrier polymers. I am quite optimistic that we will shortly see a coffee capsule containing MFC or other packages utilizing the notable oxygen and oil barrier properties of MFC.

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Written by:

Otto Soidinsalo

Dr. Otto Soidinsalo holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Helsinki. Currently he works as a Technical Application Manager at Borregaard. Before joining Borregaard, Otto was working in various positions in pharma and cellulose derivatives related industries for 8 years, ranging from R&D to product and application development and technical services. Currently Otto is focusing on CASE as well as on paper & packaging applications, especially on barrier coatings. Otto possesses a deep understanding of the natural polymers and their derivatives and their impact on rheology as well as mechanical properties of various applications.