Claims
- 1. A substantially zero oxygen permeation thermoplastic container for storage of a comestible product having a volume in the range of about 0.03-4 liters and a multilayered wall of total thickness in the range of about 0.1-2 millimeters.
- 2. The container of claim 1 wherein said container permits no more than 1 ppm, with respect to the product weight, of outside atmospheric oxygen to permeate into the product for a time period in the range of about 30-365 days under ambient storage conditions in a temperature range of about 4-25° C. and wherein said time period is measured from the time at which the container is filled and sealed.
- 3. The container of claim 2 wherein the time period is in the range of about 60-365 days.
- 4. The container of claim 2 wherein the time period is in the range of about 60-180 days.
- 5. The container of claim 1 wherein at least one layer of the multilayered wall comprises an oxygen scavenging copolyester comprising predominantly polyester segments and an oxygen scavenging amount of polyolefin oligomer segments.
- 6. The container of claim 5 wherein the copolyester comprises from about 2 to about 12 wt % polybutadiene oligomer segments of molecular weight in the range of about 1000 to about 3000 and from about 88 to about 98 wt % polyester segments.
- 7. The container of claim 1 wherein the container further comprises a base which may optionally be thicker than the wall and optionally of a monolithic construction.
- 8. The container of claim 1 wherein the container further comprises a section for attachment of a sealing means wherein said container section may optionally be thicker than the wall and optionally of a monolithic construction.
- 9. The container of claim 1 wherein the container is a bottle.
- 10. The bottle of claim 9 wherein the multilayered bottle wall has a clarity equal to at least 70% the clarity of a monolithic polyester bottle wall of similar total wall thickness.
- 11. A near zero oxygen permeation thermoplastic bottle having a comestible product storage cavity, said bottle comprising a base which defines the bottom of the bottle cavity and a multilayered generally cylindrical side wall attached to the base and extending away from the base forming the wall of the bottle cavity and providing necessary volume to the bottle cavity, said side wall terminating so as to define an opening at the top of the bottle cavity suitable for attachment of a bottle cap wherein an inner layer of the side wall is comprised of a copolyester oxygen scavenger formulation comprising predominantly polyester segments and an oxygen scavenging amount of polyolefin oligomer segments, and wherein said bottle, after filling and capping, has sufficient oxygen scavenging capacity (a) to consume and deplete oxygen within the bottle cavity, (b) to consume and deplete oxygen which may enter through the bottle cap opening, and (c) to consume oxygen at a rate about the same as the rate at which oxygen from air reaches the scavenging inner layer, wherein the nearly complete oxygen consumption under (a), (b) and (c) are maintained at least at an oxygen depletion level required for a target bottled product shelf life under a specified storage condition.
- 12. The bottle of claim 11 wherein the oxygen scavenging capacity and shelf life are optimally and cost effectively adjusted to meet the product requirements by a method selected from the group consisting of (a) varying the molecular weight of the polyolefin oligomer segments, (b) varying the wt % of polyolefin oligomer segments in the scavenging copolyester, (c) optional concurrent use of additional oxygen scavengers within the bottle wall and bottom, (d) dilution of the scavenging polyester in the inner scavenger layer, (e) variation of the extent of off-center placement of the inner scavenging layer, (f) use of oxygen scavenger catalysts within the bottle wall, (g) optional concurrent use of a bottle cap with oxygen scavenging ability, (h) use of plural oxygen scavenging layers, (i) varying the amount of oxygen scavenger used, (j) varying the thickness of the scavenger layer, and (k) combinations of the preceding.
- 13. The bottle of claim 11 wherein the copolyester comprises from about 2 to about 12 wt % polybutadiene oligomer segments of molecular weight in the range of about 1000 to about 3000 and from about 88 to about 98 wt % polyester segments.
- 14. The bottle of claim 13 wherein the polyester segments are selected from the group consisting of PET, PETI, PETN, APET, PEN, PETB, copolymers thereof, blends thereof, and mixtures of the preceding.
- 15. The bottle of claim 11 wherein the bottle base also comprises the multilayered oxygen scavenging construction of the side walls.
- 16. The bottle of claim 11 wherein the target shelf life of the product is in the range of about 30-365 days and wherein the storage condition comprises a temperature in the range of about 4-25° C.
- 17. A process for making a multilayered oxygen scavenging bottle comprising the steps of:
(i) forming a first layer of resin using multilayered bottle making apparatus, (ii) forming a second layer of resin using multilayered bottle making apparatus, (iii) forming a third layer of resin using multilayered bottle making apparatus, and (iv) transforming said first, second, and third layers of resin into a finished multilayered bottle using multilayered bottle making apparatus;
wherein said apparatus has means (A) to separately process at least two different resins and (B) to form a layered bottle having at least three layers, and wherein at least one of the layers of the bottle comprises a copolyester oxygen scavenger resin formulation comprising predominantly polyester segments and an oxygen scavenging amount of polyolefin oligomer segments.
- 18. The process of claim 17 wherein said first, second and third layers are formed concurrently.
- 19. The process of claim 17 wherein said first, second and third layers are formed sequentially.
- 20. The process of claim 17 wherein the copolyester comprises from about 2 to about 12 wt % polybutadiene oligomer segments of molecular weight in the range of about 1000 to about 3000 and from about 88 to about 98 wt % polyester segments.
- 21. The process of claim 20 wherein the polyester segments are selected from the group consisting of PET, PETI, PETN, APET, PEN, copolymers thereof, blends thereof, and mixtures thereof.
- 22. The process of claim 17 wherein the bottle is first developed as a multilayered bottle preform which is subsequently expanded to the final bottle volume.
- 23. The process of claim 22 wherein the bottle preforms are subjected to special temperature treatment so as to improve the properties of the resulting bottles.
- 24. The process of claim 22 wherein the copolyester comprises from about 2 to about 12 wt % polybutadiene oligomer segments of molecular weight In the range of about 1000 to about 3000 and from about 88 to about 98 wt % polyester segments
- 25. The process of claim 24 wherein the polyester segments are selected from the group consisting of PET, PETI, PETN, APET, PEN, copolymers thereof, blends thereof, and mixtures thereof.
- 26. The process of claim 17 wherein the bottles are subjected to special temperature treatment so as to improve their properties.
- 27. The process of claim 17 wherein the finished bottles are stored under a diminished oxygen environment, compared to the oxygen content of air, until placed in use.
- 28. The process of claim 17 wherein the bottle is a three layered bottle of layer construction A/B/C wherein Layer C, which defines the bottle cavity is comprised of virgin bottling polyester, Layer B is comprised of a copolyester oxygen scavenger of claim 17, and Layer A is comprised of bottling polyester selected from the polyester group consisting of virgin polyester, recycled polyester, reclaimed polyester, and mixtures thereof.
- 29. The process of claim 28 wherein Layer A is in the range of about 2 to about 10 times thicker than Layer C.
- 30. The process of claim 17 wherein the bottle is a five layered bottle of layer construction A/B/C/D/E wherein Layer E, which defines the bottle cavity is comprised of virgin bottling polyester, Layers B and D are comprised of a copolyester oxygen scavenger of claim 17, Layer C is comprised of bottling polyester, and Layer A is comprised of bottling polyester, and wherein Layers C and A are independently selected from the polyester group consisting of virgin polyester, recycled polyester, reclaimed polyester, and mixtures thereof.
- 31. A multilayered thermoplastic container wherein at least one layer comprises a composition comprising (a) a copolyester comprising predominantly polyester segments and an oxygen scavenging amount of polybutadiene oligomer segments and (b) cobalt in the range of about 50-500 ppm, relative to the weight of the layer in which the cobalt is present, wherein said cobalt is supplied as an aliphatic cobalt carboxylate.
- 32. The container of claim 31 wherein the composition additionally comprises benzophenone in the range of about 50-500 ppm, relative to the weight of the layer in which the benzophenone is present.
- 33. The container of claim 31 having a volume is in the range of about 0 03 -4 liters and a total wall thickness is in the rang of about 0.1-2 millimeters.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation in part of a co-pending application filed on Sep. 23, 1996 having application ser. No. 081717,370. This application also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/040,397, provisionally filed on Mar. 11, 1997.
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09254138 |
Mar 1999 |
US |
Child |
10112853 |
Mar 2002 |
US |