Laccases from Trametes versicolor (TvL), Myceliophthora thermophila (MtL), and Rhus vernicifera (RvL) were investigated with regard to their potential utilization as oxygen scavengers in active packages containing food susceptible to oxidation reactions. The substrate selectivity of the laccases was investigated with a set of 17 reducing substrates, mainly phenolic compounds. The temperature dependence of reactions performed at low temperatures (4-31 C) was studied. Furthermore, the laccases were subjected to immobilization in a latex/clay matrix and drying procedures performed at temperatures up to 105 C. The results show that it is possible to immobilize the laccases with retained activity after dispersion coating, drying at 75-105 C, and subsequent storage of the enzyme-containing films at 4 C. TvL and, to some extent, MtL were promiscuous with regard to their reducing substrate, in the sense that the difference in activity with the 17 substrates tested was relatively small. RvL, on the other hand, showed high selectivity, primarily toward substrates resembling its natural substrate urushiol. When tested at 7 C, all three laccases retained 20% of the activity they had at 25 C, which suggests that it would be possible to utilize the laccases also in refrigerated food packages. Coating and drying resulted in a remaining enzymatic activity ranging from 18 to 53%, depending on the drying conditions used. The results indicate that laccases are useful for active-packaging applications and that the selectivity for reducing substrates is an important characteristic of laccases from different sources. 2011 American Chemical Society.

The compression ability of fibres and fibre networks were investigated. The surface and bulk compressions of paper influence calendering, coating, surface sizing ability and the penetration of ink in printing. Two kraft pulps (spruce) were produced in the laboratory to obtain pulps with different levels of xylan. Using those kraft pulps alone or mixed with 50% of a commercial TMP pulp, single-layer sheets were formed in a Formette Dynamique sheet former. The pulps and mixture levels were chosen to obtain papers with systematically altered property variation but with constant grammage. The papers were characterized according to both bulk and surface compressibility. The papers were printed in a flexo IGTF1 laboratory printing press and the transferred amount of ink, dot gain, and mottling were analyzed.

The surface and bulk compressibility of a given paper influence its calendering, coating, surface sizing and printing properties. This study aims at a deeper knowledge of which variable affects the compressibility of paper sheets and how calendering effect different sheet properties. The pulps were characterized by their chemical compositions and physical properties. The bulk compressibility, the surface compressibility and the thickness were evaluated both before and after calendering

The mechanical properties of self-supporting films based on starch-plasticizer and starch-PVOH-plasticizer and the barrier properties of paperboard coated with solutions of these polymers have been studied. The plasticizers used were glycerol, polyethylene glycol and citric acid. It was shown that the addition of a plasticizer and PVOH to starch substantially increases the flexibility of starch films. It was seen that curing the self-supporting films led to a decrease in flexibility. After heat-treatment, a substantial increase in storage modulus was observed only in the starch-PVOH-citric-acid blend films. Tensile tests on the films indicate that citric acid did not cause any noticeable phase separation. Citric acid acted as a compatibilizer for starch-PVOH blends even though a similar enrichment of PVOH at the air-solid interface was observed with both citric acid and polyethylene glycol as plasticizer. The properties of barrier coatings greatly reflected the compatibility of starch-PVOH blends containing citric acid. The only plasticizer that resulted in a lower water vapour transmission rate through the starch and starch-PVOH coatings was citric acid, which suggests that cross-linking took place. With four layers, coatings based of starch-PVOH possessed the same oxygen-transmission rate with citric acid as without citric acid.

Enzymes catalyzing oxygen scavenging were embedded in latex-based coatings with and without barrier kaolin clay to produce material for active packages. The clay was used to create a porous structure, and the closed-structure matrix consisted of a biopolymer comprising either starch or gelatin to increase the water uptake of the coating. The effects of the porous open structure and of the water uptake of the coated layer on the oxygen-scavenging ability of the embedded enzymes were examined at both 75% and 100% relative humidity. The results showed that the porous clay structure led to higher oxygen-scavenging capacity than that of a closed structure at both test conditions by enabling a high diffusion rate for oxygen and glucose to the active sites of the enzymes. The addition of a water-holding biopolymer did not always significantly affect the oxygen-scavenging capacity. However for a less-porous layer at 100% relative humidity, an increase in the amount of biopolymer resulted in an increase in oxygen-scavenging capacity. The results were treated statistically using multiple-factor analysis where the most important factor for the oxygen-scavenging ability was found to be the addition of clay. The coatings were also characterized with respect to water vapor uptake, overall migration, porosity, and scanning electron microscopy images.