Cortec’s S-8 food can gets award

Cortec is pleased to announce that its S-8 corrosion inhibitor additive for food-can processing has been awarded the USDA Certified Biobased Product label! S-8 can now display a unique USDA label that highlights its percentage of biobased content and signifies its qualification to meet mandatory federal purchasing requirements under the USDA BioPreferred program.

“We applaud Cortec for earning the USDA Certified Biobased Product label,” said Vernell Thompson, USDA BioPreferred program. “Products from Cortec are contributing to an ever-expanding marketplace that adds value to renewable agriculture commodities, creates jobs in rural communities, and decreases our reliance on petroleum.”

Cortec is proud of this “green” chemistry achievement and addition to its growing line of USDA certified biobased products, which represent a long-standing commitment to environmental responsibility.

S-8 contains 71% USDA certified biobased content and is formulated with FDA compliant ingredients. It is designed for corrosion protection of sealed food cans during washing and sterilization. While most of a can’s life may be spent sitting on a shelf in a dry environment, newly packed and sealed cans pass through hot steam for sterilization, sometimes followed by a cold-water bath, before ever reaching the warehouse, store, or pantry shelf. Exposure of the metal can lead to steam, water, and air at this stage of processing is a perfect recipe for corrosion, which could lead to serious repercussions for the producer, seller, and consumer if not properly addressed. S-8 can be added at a very low dose to the sterilization and cooling water to safeguard against the risk of flash corrosion from rinsing and sterilization.

Three phases of inhibitor action—in the water, in the air, and at the air-water interface—give S-8 unique protective abilities for the steam sterilization environment, inhibiting corrosion even when the cans are not fully submerged in S-8 treated water. The additive leaves behind a persistent thin protective layer that will not cause sticky deposits on the surface of the can. Benchtop laboratory tests show outstanding film persistency and stability in a wide temperature range. This “green” filming corrosion inhibitor contains salts of fatty amino acids and amino alcohols as the active ingredients and does not hydrolyze during application.

A large food can producer in Croatia started using S-8 in 2012 in conjunction with S-14 for corrosion protection and scale control in process water used to wash and sterilize cans. The water treatment additives solved the scale and corrosion problems, and, as of five years later, it was reported that these two products were still being used with satisfaction.

Cortec is proud to contribute to the marketplace with a “green” chemistry product that is both useful and sustainable. First, the product meets an important need to protect food cans from flash rust at the end of the canning process. Second, the product uses FDA compliant materials to make it suitable for use on packed and sealed food cans. Third, the product relies on renewable, biobased raw materials to reduce the consumption of non-renewable resources. Furthermore, S-8 can be used by US federal agencies and their contractors who need to meet minimum biobased content levels when purchasing corrosion inhibitors.