SustHC_CoatPack proposal is aiming to develop the innovative strategies to obtain new functional coatings based on hemicellulose polysaccharides which will be applied by wet lamination on paper/board surface to improve their performances according to requirements of agro foods packaging. Two innovative strategies to obtain a sustainable paper packaging which can compete with plastic market references and perfectly integrated in the paper and cardboard waste value chain, are proposed: (i) Developing of biopolymer coatings with barrier properties for fatty food packaging paper: this strategy is based on obtaining of tailored xylan hemicelluloses (XyHCs) derivatives by esterification reactions using ionic liquids (ILs) which will be used as single polymer or as polyelectrolyte complexes by ionic interactions with cationic/amphoteric/amphyphylic biopolymers (e.g. chitosan or starch) in multilayer coatings on paper surface in order to obtain optimum barrier properties (water, water vapour, oxygen and oil and grease) and (ii) Design of biopolymer composite coatings based on the incorporation of active/functional additives (i.e. plant extracts and mineral oxides: ZnO, CuO nanoparticles ) for fresh vegetables paper packaging, with the aim to improve specific properties of coated paper and/or create active antimicrobial functionalities which request an equilibrium barrier (adsorption/desorption of humidity).

• To develop and validate an efficient strategy for XyHCs esterification to confer appropriate features to coatings for packaging applications
• To develop of biopolymer coatings with target properties tailored to packaging paper end-use
• To design and evaluate biopolymer composite coatings for active packaging papers
• Performance validation of the functional coatings/coated papers by the assessment of barrier, antimicrobial and migration properties as well as defining of the end of life solution comparing with existing laminated papers or petroleum-based coatings.