Degradable Coffee Packaging with Filter Layers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current packaging for prepackaged doses of ground coffee or tea, often made of plastic or metal, generates excessive waste and contributes to environmental harm and global warming due to non-biodegradable materials, and existing solutions do not effectively protect the coffee or tea from air, water, and light while being used.
Innovation Solution
A degradable packaging system comprising two filtering layers and an integral, impermeable envelope made from biodegradable, compostable, oxodegradable, photodegradable, or water-soluble materials, which limits direct contact between the material and the envelope, reducing degradation and environmental impact, and features a design that allows ease of manufacture and rigidity through peripheral joining and optional spacer layers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If plastic or metal packaging is used for prepackaged coffee doses, then protection from air, water and light is improved, but environmental harm and waste increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter of the packaging from conventional non-biodegradable plastic or metal to biodegradable materials such as plant-based plastics, paper, or cardboard. This parameter change maintains the protective function against air, water, and light while enabling the packaging to decompose naturally after use, thereby resolving the contradiction between protection quality and environmental harm.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention employs composite material structures combining multiple layers including biodegradable barrier films, porous layers for gas exchange, and structural supporting layers. These composite materials provide the necessary protection against air, water, and light penetration while maintaining biodegradability, thus achieving both reliable protection and reduced environmental impact.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If biodegradable materials are used for packaging, then environmental harm is reduced, but protective qualities deteriorate due to accelerated degradation from material contact
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging is segmented into multiple functional layers: an outer biodegradable structural layer, an intermediate barrier layer providing protection against air, water, and light, and an inner porous layer controlling material contact. This segmentation allows each layer to perform its specific function optimally, preventing direct contact between ground coffee and the biodegradable envelope while maintaining overall biodegradability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces intermediary layers including barrier films and porous layers that mediate between the ground coffee and the biodegradable envelope. These intermediary layers prevent direct contact that would accelerate degradation, while still allowing the packaging to maintain its protective qualities and eventual biodegradability.
3Ease of manufacture
If filtering layers are joined to the impermeable envelope, then manufacturing ease and rigidity are improved, but complexity of assembly increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the filtering layers and the impermeable envelope into a single integrated structure where the layers are joined together through bonding or adhesive methods. This merging eliminates the need for separate assembly steps, simplifies manufacturing, and provides rigidity to the packaging structure without increasing assembly complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The degradable packaging effectively protects the coffee or tea while minimizing waste and environmental harm by controlling the degradation of the impermeable envelope, ensuring the material's quality and reducing the amount of waste produced, with the option to be fully degradable within a year.
Implementation Method 1
By biodegradable, we mean a material that can be subjected to anaerobic or aerobic biological decomposition by the action of micro-organisms such as bacteria, fungi and algae and this under natural conditions found in the biosphere.
Implementation Method 2
By compostable, we mean a material that undergoes degradation by biological processes during composting, producing CO2 water, inorganic compounds and biomass at a level comparable to that of other composted materials and leaving no visible, recognizable or toxic residue.
Implementation Method 3
By oxodegradable, we mean a multi-step process by which a chemical additive initiates degradation which is accelerated by ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun, heat and/or mechanical stress and whose residues disappear by biodegradation after a certain time.
Implementation Method 4
By photodegradable, we mean a material that is degradable under the effect of ultraviolet (UV) rays, such that the material weakens and breaks up into tiny particles.
Implementation Method 5
One of the advantages of this type of packaging according to the invention is that the filtering layers retain the material to be infused in a reception volume and thus limit the direct contact of the latter with the degradable impermeable envelope.
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
Packaging (1) for infusing an infusible substance, comprising two filter layers (2) in such a way as to define a volume (3) in which the infusible substance is received, and an impermeable envelope (4) designed to cover the two filter layers (2), said packaging being characterized in that the envelope (4) is attached to the filter layers (2) and in that the envelope (4) is degradable. The invention is applicable to the packaging of ground coffee or tea usable with machines using servings of ground coffee or prepackaged tea.