Styrene monomer migration from polystyrene based food packaging nanocomposite: Effect of clay and ZnO nanoparticles.

Inhibition from migration of plastic ingredients such as styrene monomer (SM) is very important in food packaging industry. Styrene monomer is one of the substances which can potentially migrate from polystyrene based packaging. In the present study, organoclay and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) were used for decreasing of the SM migration into food simulants (10 and 50% ethanol (v/v)). A used GC-FID method for measuring of the migrated SM showed good precision and accuracy. Maximum reduction of SM migration into 10% and 50% ethanol (24 h storage at 40 °C) were observed in the polystyrene/nanoclay and polystyrene/ZnO samples, respectively. The SM migration data in 50% ethanol at 5 °C followed from Fickian diffusion law and the lowest diffusion coefficient (2.89 × 10-14 cm2/s) was observed in the polystyrene/ZnO/nanoclay samples.