Moisture barrier package

Abstract

A packaged moisture sensitive product and a method for packaging a moisture sensitive product. The packaging comprises a primary package, and a secondary 5 package comprising a composite laminate comprising at least one thermoplastic layer and at least one metallic layer.

Claims

1. A packaged moisture sensitive product, said packaged product comprising: (a) at least one moisture sensitive product; (b) at least one primary package containing said moisture sensitive product, said primary package being a water soluble pouch made of polyvinyl alcohol; and (c) at least one secondary package capable of holding said primary package and being made of a composite laminate having a plurality of layers, said layers comprising: at least one first layer of a thermoplastic polymer, said thermoplastic polymer being polyethylene terephthalate; at least one second layer of a thermoplastic polymer, said thermoplastic polymer being a low density polyethylene; and at least one metallic layer disposed between the first layer and the second layer, wherein the moisture sensitive product is a moisture sensitive agrochemical product comprising a phosphoramidothioate insecticide selected from the group consisting of acephate, chloramine phosphorus, isocarbophos, isofenphos, isofenphos-methyl, methamidophos, phosglycin and propetamphos.

2. The packaged product as claimed in claim 1, wherein the moisture sensitive agrochemical product comprises acephate.

3. The packaged product as claimed in claim 2, wherein the moisture sensitive agrochemical product is an acephate 97% dry flowable formulation or an acephate 50%+imidacloprid 1.8% SP formulation.

4. The packaged product as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second layer is a low density polyethylene layer having a thickness of 85 microns or 100 microns.

5. The packaged product as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first layer has a thickness of 12 microns, the second layer has a thickness of 85 microns, and the metallic layer has a thickness of 20 microns.

6. A packaged moisture sensitive product, said packaged product comprising: (a) at least one moisture sensitive product; (b) at least one primary package containing said moisture sensitive product, said primary package being a water soluble pouch made of polyvinyl alcohol; and (c) at least one secondary package capable of holding said primary package, wherein said secondary package is a composite laminate having a plurality of layers, said layers being: at least a first layer of polyethylene terephthalate; at least a second layer of polyethylene terephthalate deposited on the first layer of polyethylene terephthalate; at least one aluminium layer deposited on the second layer of polyethylene terephthalate layer; and at least one layer of low density polyethylene deposited on the aluminium layer; wherein the moisture sensitive product is a moisture sensitive agrochemical product comprising a phosphoramidothioate insecticide selected from the group consisting of acephate, chloramine phosphorus, isocarbophos, isofenphos, isofenphos-methyl, methamidophos, phosglycin and propetamphos.

7. The packaged product as claimed in claim 6, wherein the first layer of polyethylene terephthalate has a thickness of 12 microns, the second layer of polyethylene terephthalate has a thickness of 12 microns, the aluminium layer has a thickness of 8 or 9 microns, and the layer of low density polyethylene has a thickness of 100 microns.

8. A method of packing a moisture sensitive product to prepare the packaged moisture sensitive product of claim 1, said method comprising: placing said moisture sensitive product within said first primary package; and placing said primary package in said secondary package capable of holding said moisture sensitive agrochemical product contained within said primary package.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein: said primary package is a water soluble pouch made of polyvinyl alcohol; said secondary package is a composite laminate having a plurality of layers, said layers being: at least one first layer of polyethylene terephthalate; at least a second layer of polyethylene terephthalate disposed on the first layer of polyethylene terephthalate; at least one aluminium layer deposited on the second layer of polyethylene terephthalate; and at least one layer of a low density polyethylene deposited on the aluminium layer.

10. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the moisture sensitive agrochemical product comprises acephate.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the moisture sensitive agrochemical product is an acephate 97% dry flowable formulation or an acephate 50%+imidacloprid 1.8% SP formulation.

12. The packaged product as claimed in claim 6, wherein the layer of low density polyethylene has a thickness of 100 microns.

Description

(1) FIG. 1 demonstrates a water soluble pouch (1) made up of polyvinyl alcohol. The water soluble pouch (1) has been used for packaging a 10 kg sample (2) of acephate 0.97% DF formulation.

(2) FIG. 2 demonstrates a secondary packaging layer (3) according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The secondary packaging layer (3) includes a 3-layer composite layer comprising PET (4), Al foil (5) and LORE (6).

EXAMPLE 1

(3) The tri-laminated pouch PET (24μ)//Al foil (9μ)//LDPE (100μ) along with the ID primary packaging layer of PVA was used to pack acephate 97% DF formulation. The package containing acephate 97% DF was then subjected to AHS study at 54° C.

(4) TABLE-US-00003 Sr. RESULTS No. TESTS REQUIREMENTS Ambient 7 days 14 days 28 days 1 Description The material shall be Complies Complies Complies Complies in, the form of white to off-white granules, free from any visible extraneous matter. 2 Acephate content % 97.0 ± 2.5 97.39 97.08 96.51 95.47 w/w (94.5 To 99.5) 3 pH (1% Aq. Solution) 3.5 To 6.5 5.51 5.25 4.88 4.19 4 Water insoluble % 1.0 Max. 0.19 0.19 0.18 0.20 w/w 5 Wet Sieve % w/w 99.0 Min. 99.92 99.92 99.91 99.90 Passing through 75 μ test sieve 6 Solubility in 1% Should be clear Complies Complies Complies Complies Aq. sol.sup.n solution 7 Moisture Content % Record 0.18 0.19 0.21 0.26 w/w Degraded Acephate content in % -------> — 0.32 0.90 1.97

(5) It was thus found that the packaged sample complied with the specifications up to 28 days in AHS study. AHS study is normally conducted for 14 days at an elevated temperature of 54° C., which according to standard guidelines, provides adequate data in certain circumstances to allow the regulatory authorities to make a regulatory finding regarding the stability of the product and the effect of the formulation on the product packaging.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 2

(6) The tri-laminated pouch PET (24μ)//Al foil (9μ)//LDPE (100μ) along with the primary packaging layer of PVA was used to pack Acephate 97% DF formulation available from UPL Ltd. In the comparative sample, the tri-laminate pouch was replaced with a laminate comprising polyethylene/EVOH layer without a metallic layer.

(7) TABLE-US-00004 After 28days High Barrier Sr Initial Film No Parameters Requirements Results PE/EVOH Pouch 1 Description The material shall Complies Compiles Complies be in the form of white to off white free flowing granules free from extraneous matter. 2 Assay Of 9.70% Min 97.32 96.5 96.9 Acephate 3 PH (1% Aq. 3.5 to 4.5 4.42 3.60 3.44 Soln) 4 Material 1.0 Max 0.22 0.24 0.24 insoluble in water 5 Wet Sieve 99.0 Min 99.91 99.9 99.91 Test thru 75 micron Sieve (200 BSS) 6 Moisture — 0.19 0.21 0.20 Content

(8) It was found that there was 0.84% reduction in the percentage active ingredient of acephate in the PE/EvOH (Ethylene Vinyl Alcohol) pouch, whereas only about 0.43% degradation in acephate content in the tri-laminated pouch of the invention. The PE/EvOH pouch, without the metallic layer, also led to highly corrosive smell generated in the pouch.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 3

(9) The acephate+imidacloprid formulation lancer Gold®, available from UPL Ltd, was tested for storage stability in a comparative high barrier film pouch made of 100 micron low density polyethylene. Thus, the test package wad absent of the water soluble polymeric pouch, the thermoplastic layer and the metallized layer. The storage stability of the formulation was tested after AHS storage i.e. after 28 days at 54° C.

(10) TABLE-US-00005 T = 0 day T = 28 days High barrier flim pouch (100 S No. Parameters Requirements mic LDPE) 1 Description White/off- Complies white free flowing powder 2 Acephate 50.0 ± 5% 51.6 50.1 assay 3 Imidacloprid 1.80 ± 5% 2.11 1.40 assay 4 pH (2% aq 3.0 to 6.0 5.44 3.24 Soln.) 5 Water content 1.5 Max 0.35 0.77 6 Wettability 120 Max 72 76 7 Wet sieve test 99.0 min 99.7 99.62 (75 micron, 200 BSS)

(11) Thus, it was found that in the absence of the secondary package and the water soluble polymer of the present invention, acephate content of Lancer Gold® degraded by 2.90% after 28 days, and the imidacloprid content degraded by 33.5% when packed in high barrier film pouch of 100 micron LDPE. A highly corrosive smell was also generated in the pouch. A packaging method and the packaged product according to the present invention was required to pack acephate or acephate containing formulation.

(12) While the foregoing written description of the invention enables one of ordinary skill to make and use what is considered, presently to be the beat mode thereof, those of ordinary skill will understand and appreciate the existence of variations, combinations, end equivalents of the specific embodiment, method, and examples herein. The invention should therefore not be limited by the above described embodiment, method, and examples, but by all embodiments and methods within the scope and spirit of the invention.