| Soy methyl-ester based products are a new category of products made from soybean oil. High-density polyethylene was used as a container for distributing these products, but migration of the product and package distortion (paneling) occurred. Then the container was changed to high-density polyethylene with high levels of fluorination. However, the cost of the container was high and it was not available in all the desired shapes. Also, migration and paneling sometimes still occurred.; In order to find a solution to these problems, six polymers, polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), glycol-modified PET (PET-G), polyacylonitrile (PAN), high-density polyethylene/nylon blend (SELAR) and polypropylene/high density polyethylene (PPAL), were tested for usefulness as containers without the migration and package distortion. High-density polyethylene and low-density polyethylene were included to be the baseline for the test. For some plastics, more than one type of the same polymer was included in the test. Three test methods were used: the migration test, the immersion test and the bubbling test. The migration test played an important role in selection of suitable containers, while the others were not helpful. Bean-e-doo, a product with a high concentration of methyl ester, and pure soy methyl ester from Franmar Chemical Inc. were used as the test samples. PET, PVC and PAN showed absolutely no migration of the products. However, some bottles of PVC and PAN showed paneling problems. |
