Specialty beverage infusion package

Abstract

The present invention provides an infusion beverage package having a good balance of properties including, being biodegradable, good tensile strength and a short infusion times, while being transparent enough so as to enable a user of the package to see the contained infusion beverage precursor within the package before infusing the package into water. The infusion beverage package of the present invention is prepared from a porous web derived from a biodegradable thermoplastic polymer, wherein the package has a transparency of at least about 30%, a tensile strength of at least about 2N/15 mm, and an infusion time of less than about 20 seconds. In addition, the seal strength of the package is at least 2N/15 mm.

1 . An infusion beverage package comprising a porous web comprising a biodegradable thermoplastic polymer, wherein said package has a transparency of at least about 30%, a tensile strength of at least about 2N/15 mm , and a sink time of less than about 20 seconds.  
     
     
         2 . The package of  claim 1 , wherein the web comprises a nonwoven web.  
     
     
         3 . The package of  claim 1 , wherein the biodegradable thermoplastic polymer comprises an aliphatic polyester.  
     
     
         4 . The package of  claim 3 , wherein the aliphatic polyester comprises at least one member selected from polyhydroxy butyrate (PHP), polyhydroxy butyrate-co-valerate (PHBV), polycaprolactane, polybutylene succinate, polybutylene succinate-co-adipate, polyglycolic acid (PGA), polylactide or polylactic acid (PLA), polybutylene oxalate, polyethylene adipate, polyparadioxanone, polymorpholineviones, and polydioxipane-2-one.  
     
     
         5 . The package of  claim 4 , wherein the aliphatic polyester comprises polylactide.  
     
     
         6 . The package of  claim 2 , wherein the nonwoven web comprises a spunbond nonwoven web, an airlaid nonwoven web, a bonded carded web or a meltblown nonwoven web.  
     
     
         7 . The package of  claim 6 , wherein the nonwoven web comprises a spunbond nonwoven web.  
     
     
         8 . The package of  claim 2 , wherein fibers of the nonwoven web comprise monocomponent fibers, multicomponent fibers, multiconstituent fibers or a mixture thereof.  
     
     
         9 . The package of  claim 8 , wherein the fiber comprises monocomponent fibers and the fibers comprise an aliphatic polyester.  
     
     
         10 . The package of  claim 8 , wherein the fibers comprise multiconstituent fibers and comprises an aliphatic polyester as a constituent of the multiconstituent fibers.  
     
     
         11 . The package of  claim 8 , wherein the fiber multicomponent fibers and one of the components of the multicomponent fibers comprises an aliphatic polyester.  
     
     
         12 . The infusion beverage package of  claim 1 , further comprising an infusion beverage precursor contained within the package.  
     
     
         13 . The package of  claim 1 , where the porous web comprises a hydrophilic treatment.  
     
     
         14 . The package of  claim 13 , wherein the hydrophilic treatment comprises a corona glow discharge, a hydrophilic polymeric material, a plant extract, or a combination thereof.  
     
     
         15 . The package of  claim 1 , wherein the sink time is less than about 10 seconds.  
     
     
         16 . The package of  claim 15 , wherein the transparency is between 30% and 70%, the tensile strength is approximately 2 to 5 N/15 mm.  
     
     
         17 . The package of  claim 1 , wherein the heat seal strength is approximately 2 to 15 N/15 mm.