Professor Abdellah Ajji
3SPack Chair, CREPEC, Chemical Engineering Department
Polytechnique MontrÉal

*** The seminar will be in English

In recent years, the food, pharmaceutical and many other industries have seen several changes in packaging technology and applications because of new consumer demands and market trends. These drivers can be summarized as requirements for high quality, freshness and extended shelf-life of products, with easy-to-use and resistant packaging made with lighter, cheaper and sustainable-recyclable materials. Additional challenges associated with the impact of plastics on the environment added incentives and priorities to recyclability and/or compostability-degradability. In this presentation, recent studies directed towards addressing those concerns will be discussed as well as some of the challenges associated with sustainability and recycling. 

Biography

Abdellah Ajji is a professor and head at the Chemical Engineering Department at Polytechnique Montreal, holder of the industry research Chair on safe, smart and sustainable packaging (3SPack). He is also director of the polymer flexible packaging (PolyFlexPack) laboratory. His research interests over the last 30 years are in polymer processing, polymer blends and polymer nanocomposites, particularly films, fibers, electrospinning, and membranes for various applications. More recently, his focus is on applications in functional multilayer films and nanofiber structures such as sensors and active packaging as well as biomedical applications. He published more than 230 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals, 7 patents and applications and more than 200 conference proceedings. He is also an associate editor for the Journal of Polymer Engineering, a member of the editorial board of the journal of Plastic Films and Sheeting, Fellow of the Society of Plastic Engineers and member of many professional societies.