Wheat gluten-coated papers for bio-based food packaging: Structure, surface and transfer properties

The objective of the present work was to understand how the structural, surface, water vapour and gas barrier properties of wheat gluten (WG) coated paper could be influenced by the features of paper. For this purpose, a surface treated paper (TP) and an untreated paper (UTP) were compared. Penetration of WG-coating into the bulk of paper was more pronounced in UTP than TP. This led to the formation of a significant junction zone resulting in an interpenetrated structure for WG-UTP, suggesting a composite-like structure, while a bi-layer one was obtained for WG-TP. Differences in WG penetration were related to the hydrophilicity, roughness and porosity of the paper used. Even though the extent of penetration did not greatly affect the surface properties (water and oil resistance), the transfer properties (water vapour, O-2 and CO2) of WG-coated papers were significantly improved when WG-coating highly penetrated: while the WG-TP behaved as a micro-perforated material, the WG-UTP behaved as WG-film. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.