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In this study, lignin recovered from a biorefinery waste stream was used to modify a clay saponite to form a lignin–clay nanohybrid. Approximately 32 wt % of lignin was associated into a lignin–clay nanohybrid, which could be well dispersed into an organophilic monomer phase. This nanohybrid was then encapsulated into polystyrene co-butyl acrylate (PSBA) particles to form stable latex via in situ miniemulsion polymerization. The final latex had a broad size distribution and a narrow window of the nanohybrid (1.9–5.3 wt %) loading level. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis of latex films indicated successful encapsulation of intercalated nanohybrids inside a co-polymer matrix. The introduction of lignin–clay nanohybrids greatly improved PSBA properties. The nanocomposite with a 5.3% nanohybrid had a 13.75 times increase in tensile strength, an approximate 50 °C increase in degradation temperature, and a 42% decrease in oxygen permeability.

BACKGROUND: Minolta and machine vision are two different instrumental techniques used for measuring the colour of muscle food products. Between these two techniques, machine vision has many advantages, such as its ability to determine L * , a * , b * values for each pixel of a sample's image and to analyse the entire surface of a food regardless of surface uniformity and colour variation. The objective of this study was to measure the colour of irradiated Atlantic salmon fillets using a hand-held Minolta colorimeter and a machine vision system and to compare their performance.

A new dynamic accumulation method for measuring the oxygen transmission rate (OTR) of packages and packaging films using robust and inexpensive fluorescence oxygen sensing technology has been developed. The method allows for oxygen to transfer through a given area of packaging or sample film and accumulate over time. The test volume incorporates a fluorescence‐based oxygen sensor that does not consume oxygen and therefore does not interfere with the real‐time measurement of oxygen concentration. The new method was tested against a widely used, commercially available instrument (Mocon Oxtran 2/20; Mocon, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, USA) designed around the steady‐state gas permeation measurement approach described by ASTM D3985. Sample films were chosen to provide comparison over several orders of magnitude of OTR. Specifically, sample films with OTR values in the range of 101, 103 and 104 ml O2/m2/day were measured, and results using the two methods were compared. Results showed that the new dynamic accumulation method provides comparable results with the steady‐state method (ASTM D3985). Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.