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 ºC and 25±2 ºC, according as the relative humidity ranging from 75% to 85% and the oxygen transmission rate through the package. At 25±2ºC the equation was V = -32,770+10,440*RH-104,385*ln(O2 TR), with R² = 0,9151. At 10±2ºC, V=107,321+6,221*RH-105,166 ln(O2 TR) with R² = 0,8729. As a consequence, activity time for the oxygen absorbers can be calculated with the following equation: T = (V-Vi) / (ln(O2 TR*A). Using these equations and considering a packaging area of 0,05m² for each face, oxygen transmission rate of 8,63 cm³.m-².dia-1, relative humidity of 80% and an initial oxygen volume inside the package of 2,5 mL, absorber activity times when stored at 10±2ºC and 25±2ºC were 435 and 666 days, respectively.
Active packaging; oxygen absorbers; absorbed oxygen
