Slot-die coating of cellulose nanocrystals and chitosan for improved barrier properties of paper

Abstract Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and chitosan (Cht) have been studied extensively for oxygen and water vapour barrier coatings in biodegradable, compostable or recyclable paper packaging. However, rare studies have been performed by using scalable, inexpensive, and fast continuous slot-die coating processes, and none yet in combination with fast' and high-throughput near-infrared (NIR) light energy drying. In this frame, we studied the feasibility of a moderately concentrated (11 wt%) anionic CNC and (2 wt%) cationic Cht coating (both containing 20 wt% sorbitol related to the weight of CNC/Cht), by using plain and pigment pre-treated papers. The effect of coating parameters (injection speed, dry thickness settings) were investigated on coating quantity (dry weight, thickness) and homogeneity (coverage), papers' structure (thickness, grammage, density), whiteness, surface wettability, barrier (air, oxygen and water vapour) properties and adhesion (surface strength). The coating homogeneity was dependent primarily on the suspensions' viscosity, and secondarily on the applied coating parameters, whereby CNCs could be applied at 1–2 times higher injection speeds (up to 80 mL/min) and versatile coating weights, but required a relatively longer time to dry. The CNCs thus exhibited outstanding air (4.2–1.5 nm/Pa s) and oxygen (2.7–1.1 cm 3 mm/m 2 d kPa) barrier performance at 50% RH and 22–33 g/m 2 deposition, whereas on top deposited Cht (3–4 g/m 2 ) reduced its wetting time and improved the water vapour barrier (0.23–0.28 g mm/m 2 d Pa). The balanced barrier properties were achieved due to the polar characteristic of CNCs, the hydrophobic nature of Cht and the quantity of the applied bilayer coating that can provide sustainable paper-based packaging.