A new approach to predict the mass transport properties of micro-perforated films intended for food packaging applications

• Published in: Journal of food engineering 2012-11, Vol.113 (1), p.41-46
• Main Authors: Mastromatteo, Marcella, Lucera, Annalisa, Lampignano, Vincenzo, Del Nobile, Matteo Alessandro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon dioxide permeability; Computational fluid dynamics; Deviation; Empirical analysis; Food packaging; Mathematical models; Micro-perforated film; Modeling; Oxygen permeability; Permeability; Transport properties; Water vapor; Water vapor permeability
• ISSN: 0260-8774; 1873-5770
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2012.05.029

► Mathematical model to predict the mass transport properties of micro-perforated films. ► Micro-perforated films differing in number of holes per unit area and hole diameter. ► The gas and water vapor permeability of the films were tested. ► The predictive goodness of the empirical model is much better than of the theoretical. A new mathematical approach to predict the mass transport properties of micro-perforated films is presented in this work. In particular, 16 different types of micro-perforated films, differing in both the number of holes per unit area and the hole diameter, and the corresponding bulky film (i.e., without holes) were tested for gas and water vapor permeability. Two different models have been proposed in this work: a theoretical model derived assuming that holes permeability is constant, and an empirical model. The gas and water vapor permeability data were used to calculate the values of parameters for both models. The obtained values were used to predict the gas and water vapor permeability of tested films. The mean relative deviation modulus (E¯%) was used as a quantitative measure of the predictive ability of the models. Results suggest that the predictive goodness of the empirical model is much better than that of the theoretical one. This is mainly due to the critique assumption used to derive the theoretical model that is the hypothesis of constant holes permeability, which does not account for possible hydrodynamic flow.