Nanotechnology is more and more important solution within the packaging industry.It has a highly committal name, that though immediately reveals the latest important new feature of the Scandolara Group, involving the application of nanotechnologies to packaging, namely the Z47 AgTube Sterilizing System, designed first of all for the pharmaceutical sector, but also suitable for cosmetics, the system could in the future open interesting prospects in the food industry as well. Indeed it represents an outstanding accomplishment achieved by Scandolara (that in December 2010 became an SpA, Ed.) after two years of work conducted in collaboration with university researchers specialized in nanotechnologies.
The production technique employed by the historic producer is based on the dispersal of metallic silver in nanometric dimensions and is radically different from the already known procedure that employs silver salts or coloidal silver, whose effectiveness is limited over time. In our case, metallic silver helps create a non favorable environment for bacteria and germs, thus preserving the integrity of the formula for the duration of the product’s use.
What repercussions are there on the formula?
In every way, Z47 AgTube Sterilizing System enables a reduction in the dose of preservatives without compromising the contents, at the same time offering the guarantees necessary to protecting the end user for the duration of the treatment. In this way, the new tube responds to an important double demand of the market: combating an increase in allergies to the preservatives employed to increase the shelf-life of drugs and cosmetics, and satisfying consumers’ general orientation towards more natural products.
Testing and production - The Scandolara group (sales offices in Garbagnate Milanese and production facilities in Italy and elsewhere in Europe) has faced this challenge with tenacity, dedicating resources to this end. The long experimentation phase - culminating with technical testing of production, prototyping and analysis - has documented the effectiveness of the new container in dramatically reducing the presence of the most common bacterial contaminants (Escherichia coli, Staphilococcus aereus, Candida albicans, Pseudomonas aeuruginosa, Enterococcus hirae).
To verify the constant germicidal action of this container, specific tests were also conducted, and passed with flying colors, in compliance with the international standards ISO 22196: 2007 and ASTM E 2180. Having passed the tests, the germicidal tube has already been produced for some important industrial concerns that, with great interest, have started up the required stability tests. Indeed, the very low amount of silver dispersed homogeneously throughout the walls, shoulder and capsule of the tube - the people at Scandolara state - helps guarantee the effectiveness of this solution.
At the same time, it does not create any problems during the production phase, which occurs on normal installations, it employs time-tested components and does not require further processes out of line.
Moreover, the use of a precious material such as silver only modestly affects the final cost, due to the very low quantities employed». Available in all diameters, the tube can be paired with the most common capsules of the Scandolara range and maintains the same possibilities for graphic communication using conventional printing processes. The Z47AgTube Sterilizing System by Scandolara is patented at the national and European levels.
