Waterborne Poly(butylene succinate)-Coated Paper for Sustainable Packaging Applications

Reported herein is waterborne poly(butylene succinate) (PBS)-coated paper as a potential biodegradable packaging material. Kraft paper was coated with PBS latex, and the coated paper was evaluated for its water and oil repellency, water vapor barrier performance, and physicomechanical properties. The water resistance (Cobb1800 value = 15.5 ± 0.1 g/m2), oil resistance (kit rating = 12/12), and water vapor transmission rate (112.62 ± 8.04 g/(m2 day) were observed for the coated paper. In addition, the coated paper showed excellent thermal sealing properties. Furthermore, a comparative performance study of our coated paper was performed against multiple commercial benchmarks. The PBS-latex-coated paper showed kit rating performance that matched or surpassed those of commercial benchmarks while having better water resistance than at least two tested commercial benchmarks. The biodegradation study in composting conditions indicates that the one-sided coated paper does not potentially affect the overall biodegradation of the coated paper.