Economic and Environmental Performance of Cellulose Nanofibril-Coated Molded Pulp Trays for Fresh Fruit Packaging
| Authors: | Rahul Prasad Bangalore Ashok, Richard Bergman, Prakash Nepal, Jeffrey Paul Youngblood, Troy Runge |
| Year: | 2026 |
| Type: | Scientific Journal |
| Station: | Forest Products Laboratory |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.6c02159 |
| Source: | ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering |
Abstract
Cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) offer a promising biodegradable packaging solution, yet their economic and environmental viability for large-scale fruit packaging applications remains under-explored. Based on lab-scale experimental data, this study presents a conceptualized industrial scale process for producing CNF-coated molded pulp (MP) trays with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polylactic acid (PLA) lidding for packaging of fresh fruits such as cherry tomatoes and berries. A comprehensive techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted across five packaging scenarios to determine the minimum selling price (MSP) and global warming potential (GWP) for packaged cherry tomatoes, raspberries, and blueberries after 10 days at the retail shelf. To better capture the shelf-life benefits of CNF coatings, a novel supply chain model integrating on-site fruit packaging was proposed. Based on the economic analysis, the best-performing packaging configuration was uncoated MP trays with PET lidding for cherry tomatoes ($5.73/kg), and coated MP trays with PET lidding for raspberries ($41.40/kg) and blueberries ($18.75/kg). A cradle-to-retail LCA, utilizing TRACI 2.2 methodology estimated their respective GWPs at 0.847, 1.65, and 1.92 kg CO2e/kg, when CNF is produced via a mechanochemical process with low power consumption. Sensitivity analysis identified fruit wholesale cost and weight loss as the main economic drivers. Monte Carlo simulations quantified the uncertainty in the estimated MSP for each best-performing fruit packaging scenario at the retail shelf after 10 days, yielding 90% confidence interval values of $3.94−7.49/kg for cherry tomatoes, $27.44−57.88/kg for raspberries, and $12.85−24.75/kg for blueberries.