Application of nanotechnology in packaging and food machinery
The emergence of nanobiology provides a brand new platform for the development of food engineering. Nanotechnology has made genetic engineering more controllable. People can produce a variety of nano-biological 'products' that are easy for human body to absorb according to their own needs. As a result, profound changes may also take place in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, sideline and fishery, and human food structure will also change accordingly. The 'food' synthesized by nanobiological engineering and chemical engineering will greatly enrich the quantity and variety of food, and the corresponding packaging and food machinery will also emerge at the right moment.
Nano ceramics have good wear resistance, high strength and strong toughness, they can be used to manufacture sealing rings and bearings of cutting tools, packaging and food machinery, to improve their wear resistance and corrosion resistance. It can also be used to make surface coating for key parts of conveying machinery and boiling drying bed.
In Tokyo, Japan, someone has successfully developed self-cleaning glass and self-cleaning ceramic tile in the laboratory. There is a thin layer of nano TiO2 on its surface, under the light exposure, any substances sticking to the surface, including oil stains and bacteria, will be further oxidized into gas or substances that can be easily erased due to the catalytic action of nano TiO2. TiO2 can be used to produce packaging containers, food machinery boxes and production workshops, etc.
A research institute in Germany with nano silicon ceramics made of special non-pollution wear resistant transparent coating, coated in glass, plastic and other objects, with anti-fouling, dustproof, scratch resistance, wear resistance, fire and other functions. Can be used for packaging and food machinery in direct contact with food parts surface coating.
Nano SiC and Si3N4 have strong absorption of infrared in a wide wavelength range, can be used as infrared absorbing and penetrating material, to make functional thin films or fibres, nano Si3N4 amorphous block has from yellow to near-infrared light of selective absorption, can also be used for special window materials. The optical fiber made of nano SiO2 has a transmission loss of less than 10dB/km for wavelengths over 600nm. The micron-thick multilayer interference film made of nano SiO2 and nano TiO2 has good light transmittance and strong infrared reflectance ability, compared with the traditional halogen lamp, it can save 15% of the electric energy. These characteristics can be used in infrared drying and infrared sterilization equipment of food machinery.
Studies have proved that, dispersing 30~40nm TiO2 into resin to make a thin film becomes a uv absorbing material with strong absorption capacity to light below 400nm wavelength, can be used as the best raw material for food sterilization bags and fresh-keeping bags.
The nano-TiO2 photocatalytic degradation of organic matter water treatment technology has no secondary pollution and high purification degree. Its advantages are as follows:
1. It has a huge specific surface area and can adsorb organic matter on its surface to the maximum extent;
2. It has stronger ultraviolet absorption ability, so it has stronger photocatalytic degradation ability, and can quickly decompose the organic matter adsorbed on its surface. This has provided the powerful technical support to the food enterprise which the sewage treatment quantity is larger.
Mesoporous solids and mesoporous composites are the most attractive research objects in recent years in the field of nanomaterials science. Due to their high porosity (hole size is 2~50nm) and high specific surface, these materials have important application prospects in adsorption, filtration and catalysis. For pure water, soft drinks and other membrane filtration and sterilization equipment to provide another broad space for development.
The working environment of food machinery is harsh, which requires higher lubricants. In general, lubricants are easy to wear out and pollute the environment. If the size of the magnetic particles in the magnetic liquid is only 10nm, so the bearing will not be damaged, and the base liquid can also use lubricanting oil. As long as the appropriate magnetic field is used, the magnetic lubricating oil can be restricted to the required part, ensuring the normal operation of the machine.
Rubber and plastics are the most used raw materials in packaging and food machinery. But the usual rubber is by adding carbon black to improve its strength, wear resistance and anti-aging, the product is black, not suitable for use in food machinery. The advent of nanomaterials have solved this problem. The indexes of the new nano-modified rubber have been greatly improved, especially the anti-aging performance has been increased by three times, the service life is more than 30 years, and the color is gorgeous and the color retention effect is excellent. Common plastic has large output, wide application and low price, but its performance is inferior to that of engineering plastic, which has superior performance but high price, which limits its wide application in packaging and food machinery. The properties of engineering plastic nylon - 6 can be achieved by modifying ordinary plastic polypropylene with nanometer material, with good process performance and low cost.
The above only listed the application of nanomaterials in packaging and food machinery in a few aspects, but the importance of nanotechnology and materials has been fully demonstrated. It is believed that the future of nanomaterials will be more brilliant with the hard exploration and development of technicians in the packaging and food industry.
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