Manufacturing & Supply Chain

The recent K exhibition in Dusseldorf saw AIPIA member AkzoNobel introduce Armofog 151 anti-fog additive which, says the company, enhance anti-fog performance for food packaging and agricultural films.

The first product in this range is marketed under the name of Armofog 151, and improves hot and cold fog performance of polyethylene and EVA food packaging films. The company also offers a high performance concentrate of this additive called Armofog 151-XE35.
The chemicals, coatings, to explosives giant is also working on anti-fog solutions for polypropylene and PET which could be exciting news for plastic packaging suppliers, as more and more food packs are made from these materials. As Haimo Tonnaer, business development manager for AkzoNobel’s Polymer Additives business explained, “Currently there are no really effective anti-fog products for polypropylene, although some are on the market, while none at all exists for PET at present.”

Cold fog usually forms on products below 5⁰C, while hot fog appears when temperatures go above that figure, so it is quite a common problem. The additive does not make the water droplets which cause the film to go away, it transforms them into a transparent layer of water, making the droplets invisible.
Tonnaer believes the ant-fog additives can help supermarkets reduce waste by cutting the number of packs left on the shelf due to fogging. In addition he believes the new range are good for both consumers and plastic packaging suppliers, “Our customers demand easy to use antifog additives that save operational time and costs. Armofog 151-XE35 is a high performance concentrate which allows for easy handling and dosing in addition to the normal benefits.”