Evaluation of the amount of oxygen absorbed by oxygen absorbers at different temperatures and relative humidities

Oxygen absorbers have been presenting a growing demand for application in food packaging. Thus, it is important to know the efficiency of those absorbers in different relative humidity and temperatures. Therefore, equations were developed to predict the volume of absorbed oxygen at 10 +/- 2 degrees C and 25 +/- 2 degrees C, according as the relative humidity ranging from 75% to 85% and the oxygen transmission rate through the package. At 25 +/- 2 degrees C the equation was V = -32,770+10,440*RH-104,385*ln(O-2 TR), with R-2 = 0,9151. At 10 +/- 21 degrees C, V= 107,321+6,221*RH-105,166 ln(O-2 TR) with R-2 = 0,8729. As a consequence, activity time for the oxygen absorbers can be calculated with the following equation: T = (V-Vi)/(ln(O-2 TR*A). Using these equations and considering a packaging area of 0,05m(2) for each face, oxygen transmission rate of 8,63 cm(3).m(-2).dai(-1) , relative humidity of 80% and an initial oxygen volume inside the package of 2,5 mL, absorber activity times when stored at 10 +/- 2 degrees C and 25 +/- 2 degrees C were 435 and 666 days, respectively.