Cost savings could be remarkable by switching to affordable monolayer polyethylene (PE) films with HyperBarrier nanocomposite instead of staying with multilayer structures for oxygen, moisture, and grease barrier. A bonus is that the flexible packaging would also be recyclable.
At a Glance
- HyperBarrier PE film offers 300x oxygen barrier, is recyclable, and can replace multilayer structures.
- Advanced nanoclay technology enables high barrier, moisture resistance, and heat sealability in monolayer PE films.
- HyperBarrier PE film can cut costs 25% to 60% vs. multilayer films while meeting circular packaging and EPR goals.
Polyethylene (PE) may be a workhorse of packaging film, but it’s rarely a star. That might change, though, because of a barrier technology that’s expected to come online this summer.
While affordable, ordinary polyethylene film doesn’t provide a lot of product protection against oxygen, moisture, or grease. New HyperBarrier PE film from Smart Planet Technologies does, and in an all-PE film that is recyclable.
HyperBarrier PE film offers:
- 300x oxygen barrier improvement over typical PE film
- Stable performance in humid environments
- Mechanical durability
- Compatibility with circular packaging mandates/goals
- No need for new capital equipment for converters or brand owners
HyperBarrier PE cast film is in the final stages of production trials, says Chris Tilton, Chief Technology Officer, Materials, at Smart Planet Technologies, and inventor of HyperBarrier, with availability expected by August 2026. Blown film is also in development.
Related: Does Flexible Packaging Have a Place in a Circular Economy?
Will Lorenzi, President of Smart Planet Technologies, points out, “While much of the sustainability R&D in the industry has been towards new polymer formulations, we’ve taken a different path of mineralizing standard PE to achieve performance, recyclability, and plastic reduction goals.”
The HyperBarrier PE film cocktail
How does HyperBarrier get such high barrier in a monolayer PE film?
HyperBarrier for PE film is a cocktail of “high Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) nanoclays, extensive exfoliation, platelet orientation, and crystallinity enhancement,” says Tilton.
For you engineers, Tilton explains that the specific but proprietary morphology HyperBarrier achieves is:
- High Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) nanoclays enabling high separation of the clay layers and stable surfactant anchoring
- Exfoliation efficiency (E) of around 0.7 to 0.9
- Planar orientation factor (S)
- Crystallinity increase via nanoclay-induced nucleation
- Mean particle sizes and particle distribution in the matrix
- Aspect ratios (Aᵣ)
“In addition to process management, these parameters are historically unused in combination,” says Tilton. “Together, they unlock the performance predicted by advanced diffusion models.”
This proprietary morphology is the secret sauce for providing oxygen barrier comparable to multilayer films, moisture barrier that’s better than EVOH, and grease barrier good enough for fried foods (Kit 12+). See the charts in the slideshow for specifics on comparisons to other existing packaging materials for oxygen barrier, moisture barrier, mechanical performance, sustainability, and cost.
Related: Garlock/C-P Advances Flexible Packaging With $20M Investment
HyperBarrier evolution continues
If you’re thinking you’ve heard of HyperBarrier before, you are right. Packaging Digest broke the story on HyperBarrier for paper packaging two years ago in April 2024, and it was the twelfth best-read article of the year out of hundreds.
At the time, we reported that, with HyperBarrier, flexible paper packaging boosted oxygen barrier 20x and moisture barrier 15x over typical polyethylene coatings. Since then, HyperBarrier for paper packaging has been improved even more. It now offers 300x oxygen barrier and 5x moisture barrier compared to commodity LDPE, and that’s a story unto itself, which we’ll look into soon.
But for now, we’ll focus on HyperBarrier for PE film.
You might wonder, because I did, is HyperBarrier for PE film the same as HyperBarrier extrusion coating for paper packaging just in thicker layers? No, the recipe is different because the requirements are different.
For one example, HyperBarrier coating for paper packaging can include calcium carbonate to minimize the total amount of plastic in the coating, which improves the paper packaging’s recyclability. HyperBarrier for PE film, on the other hand, doesn’t need the calcium carbonate component because the goal (encouraged by many extended producer responsibility/EPR laws around the world) is mono-material solutions.
Related: USPP Tackles Film Packaging Circularity
HyperBarrier for PE film partners and cost savings
HyperBarrier resin commercialization partners include Standridge Color — Smart Planet Technologies’ compounding and product development partner in Social Circle, GA — Nova Chemicals (now Borouge International), Vilkritis in Lithuania, and Colloids in the United Kingdom.
Robert Clare, Senior Packaging Engineer for Flexible Films from Nova Chemicals, is scheduled to talk about HyperBarrier in a presentation at the R2R USA Conference & Expo 2026 in Cleveland in May.
Of course, prices will be set by the film converters. But when asked for an idea of the cost savings a brand owner might typically see with HyperBarrier PE film vs. a multilayer laminate, Tilton says, “The savings are a minimum of 25% and possible up to 60%.”
How is HyperBarrier supplied and dispersed with PE resin? Let’s learn more about the technology behind HyperBarrier for flexible packaging.
Technical details of HyperBarrier for PE film
HyperBarrier for PE film leverages advanced nanoclay barrier technology. CEC nanoclays are treated to increase their interlayer spacing and change their surface characteristics to be compatible with polymers or organic molecules.
In addition to all its barrier benefits, HyperBarrier functions as a heat-sealable packaging film, making it versatile for various applications.
While HyperBarrier works as a single-layer film, it can also be used in coextrusions. Why would anyone want to do this? Tilton answers, “There are options [other packaging films] optimizing barrier performance that are not heat-seal layers. In this case, an outer layer may be needed for heat-seal applications.”
He goes on though, “The idea that you needed several layers to get high barrier is outdated,” Tilton says. “With the right nanoscale dispersion, a single polyethylene layer can now do the job — no tie layers, no laminations, no compromises.”
So, what’s the right dispersion?
Tilton: “The key to dispersion is the particle coating, average particle size, and the CEC. High CEC combined with correct particle coating for dispersion allow the multilayered silicate particle to organize into tactoids and exfoliate during the compounding and converting process.”
The exfoliation of nanoclay platelets in a mineralized polyethylene matrix is what creates a tortuous-path diffusion barrier inside a monolayer.
HyperBarrier particles are supplied by Standridge Color, Smart Planet Technologies’ nanocomposite compound supplier, to resin companies. (Technical Data Sheets will be available for HyperBarrier converting partners.) The HyperBarrier material completes exfoliation when compounded into the carrier resin. After compounding, HyperBarrier exfoliation has been shown to be more than 80% efficient. Exfoliation continues during the cast film converting processes.
Additionally, the HyperBarrier PE film maintains its barrier properties after running on high-speed converting and packaging lines.
HyperBarrier performance on equipment and testing
Described as “process friendly,” HyperBarrier runs on existing extrusion lines and filling equipment.
On extrusion lines, a couple benefits are that HyperBarrier reduces or eliminates tie layers and film laminations and any associated costs. And there is no need for metallization steps or solvent or water-based coating stations. Additionally, HyperBarrier is compatible with regrind and in-plant recycling processes.
During product packaging by the brand owner, filling line speeds remain the same as with standard high- and low-density polyethylene materials.
According to Smart Planet Technologies, while most multilayer barriers degrade when folded or exposed to humidity, HyperBarrier’s single-layer matrix has no interfaces to delaminate. This is one of the ways HyperBarrier is able to keep its oxygen and moisture transition rates stable even after forming and sealing.
Also, EVOH, PVOH, and metallized PET are prone to cracking, pinholing, or barrier loss under mechanical stress. Testing has shown that HyperBarrier maintains its barrier properties after folding and creasing.
HyperBarrier has gone through extensive testing, both as an extrusion coating for paper packaging (as itemized in Packaging Digest’s earlier report) and as a component in PE film.
Tilton tells us that HyperBarrier PE cast film was tested successfully this month on a production run at a resin company’s advanced laboratory.
Additionally, independent testing was performed by Ametek Mocon in Minneapolis for oxygen barrier testing. And Applied Paper Technology Inc. does grease, and water and moisture barrier testing.
HyperBarrier sustainability, EPR, and accolades
HyperBarrier for PE film offers a good sustainability fit for internal corporate goals, as well as for external regulations. Because the nanoclay constitutes no more than 4% of the overall film, the product qualifies as recyclable in the PE stream in Europe.
In the US, film and flexible packaging recycling is still challenging, although work continues to advance this. Developments like HyperBarrier for PE film can help improve both recycling quality and volume.
“Recyclers will recycle things when there’s value and merit in it because they can see they have a market for it. And you know our products across the board improve the value of the materials that they receive,” Lorenzi says.
“Monomaterial simplicity”
High barrier, heat sealable, lower cost, and recyclable: HyperBarrier PE film checks a lot of boxes.
“The world wants monomaterial simplicity without giving up shelf life,” notes Tilton. “HyperBarrier finally makes that possible.”
