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US 12,168,853 B2Granted
Fiber-based food containers
AssigneeFootprint International, LLC
InventorsYoke Dou Chung, Brandon Michael Moore, Yiyun Zhang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus for manufacturing a microwavable food container include: forming a wire mesh over a mold comprising a mirror image of the microwavable food container; immersing the wire mesh in a fiber-based slurry bath; drawing a vacuum across the wire mesh to cause fiber particles to accumulate at the wire mesh surface; and removing the wire mesh including the accumulated fiber particles from the slurry bath; wherein the slurry comprises one or more of a moisture barrier, an oil barrier, and a vapor barrier.
Claims14
A food container obtained by:
- creating a fiber-based slurry, the fiber-based slurry comprising fiber-based pulp containing a moisture barrier component in the range of 1%-10% by weight;
- wherein seme at least a portion of the moisture barrier component is absorbed in the fibers;
- forming a mesh in the shape of a mold corresponding to the shape of the food container;
- immersing the mesh in the fiber-based slurry;
- drawing a vacuum across the mesh to cause fiber particles from the fiber-based slurry to accumulate at the mesh surface;
- and
- removing the mesh and the accumulated fiber particles from the fiber-based slurry;
- drying the accumulated fiber particles to remove moisture, where the dried accumulated fiber particles form the food container;
- spraying at least one of a topical oil barrier coating and a topical vapor barrier coating to a surface of the food container, and wherein,
- the fiber-based slurry further comprises a dye absorption agent comprising one of salt and soda ash;
- wherein at least a portion of the dye absorption agent is absorbed in the fibers.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.