BARC signs MoU for technology incubation with Nagpur-based firm


Staff Reporter
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), a research institute of repute, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with city-based firm M/s Veena Industries for incubation of technology for ‘Biodegradable and Edible Films for Food and Pharmaceuticals Packaging’.
According to R K Singh, Head, Media Relations and Public Awareness Section of BARC, the MoU was signed on May 21. BARC has developed biodegradable edible films for food nad pharmaceuticals packaging from natural resources to overcome the disadvantages of plastic packaging materials. These films have comparable mechanical and barrier properties to commercially used PVC cling films.
As per the MoU, the scale-up of the technology will be carried out at the incubation centre of BARC with M/s Veena Industries to develop the product as per the market requirement. While scaling up the technology, emphasis will be given on developing economically viable and user-friendly product with improvement in mechanical and barrier properties of the film. A suitable dose of ‘Gamma Radiation’ will be given to raw material to improve its mechanical and barrier properties such as tensile strength and water vapour transmission rate, added R K Singh. BARC will provide its technical know-how and infrastructure and Veena Industries will provide market search, manpower, and material at its own cost for the incubation plan. Once developed, the technology will be licensed to the city-based firm.
Packaging constitutes the largest market for plastics, amounting to over 12 million tonnes per year. Synthetic packaging materials are made up of petroleum-based products, which are non-biodegradable and non-renewable. Large scale use of such packaging materials is a major environmental concern. This has led to a search for packaging materials that are biodegradable as well as recyclable. One of the alternatives is the development of packaging material from biopolymers that are biodegradable, non-toxic, and derived from completely renewable resources. Major limitations in the use of biopolymers as packaging materials are their relatively poor mechanical and barrier properties such as tensile strength and water vapour transmission rate as compared to their non-biodegradable counterparts.
Against this backdrop, BARC’s biodegradable edible films are significant development. 

(25-05-14) 

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