Nippon Gohsei has entered an exclusive global licensing agreement with the Nanobiomatters to use its O2Block Barrier additive in EVOH composites. Nippon Gohsei will market its EVOH products using O2Block Barrier under its SoarnoL NC series trade name, currently working in the sampling stage with the products, with plans to begin full commercial sales sometime in 2012.
Nippon Gohsei had a joint development program with Nanobiomatters over the past two years, and K. Asano, general manager of Nippon Gohsei's Soarnol Division, said his company have found the O2Block technology to be very unique. Nanobiomatters O2Block additives consist of surface-modified organoclays based on a selection of layered phillosilicate minerals. They are food-contact approved surface modification systems specifically designed to create a barrier for migrants, such as oxygen, water vapor, oils. Once dispersed within a polymer, the O2Block additives create a more tortuous path for any migrant and thereby increase the barrier properties of the polymer.
Soarnol is the trade name of Nisson Gohsei's ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH), which combines the gas barrier properties, oil resistance, and transparency of polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) with the water resistance, extrudability, and other properties of ethylene components.
