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A fundamental shift in the frozen food industry has occurred with the advent of eCommerce platforms and on-demand delivery becoming more popular than ever. The frozen food industry is crowded and only high-quality food products shipped using correct cold chain procedures will reap the benefits of such great demand.
Consumers are savvier and expect frozen food delivered “rock solid” frozen with well designed, effective and sustainable packaging. Regardless of the shifting tastes of the market, frozen food must stay frozen throughout the distribution process to maintain food safety and quality standards.

IPC’s PopupLiner Insulated Box Liner

Pint of Ice Cream

Temperature profile of the oven and ice cream for IPC’s PopupLiner Insulated Box Liner and the EPS cooler.
One of the most commonly used thermal insulators in the food industry is expanded polystyrene (EPS) coolers. Progress, however, is undeniable and here at IPC we’ve created products that protect shipments for longer, take up less space, and are more sustainable
EPS shipping coolers were attractive products in that they provide thermal insulation, are relatively lightweight, and are inexpensive. However, due to their environmental impact and non-biodegradability, 11 US states have already banned polystyrene foam, and national legislation to ban it has been introduced in the Senate. While some polystyrene foam is reused, most of it—particularly for food or beverage containers—is single-use.
Recycling EPS is technically feasible but very costly. Additionally, despite being lightweight, EPS coolers are bulky and must be shipped stacked, making shipping and warehouse storage inefficient and unnecessarily expensive.
IPC provides insulated shipping solutions designed to replace EPS coolers, offering improved thermal performance and reduced transportation costs for frozen food shipments. Our paper-based, curbside-recyclable insulated liner, CelluLiner, protects frozen and refrigerated shipments for up to 72 hours. It is foldable for easy storage. Tackling storage inefficiency directly, we pioneered a vacuum-compressed insulated liner that outperforms EPS, occupies a quarter of the space, and is far more environmentally friendly than polystyrene.
The Technology
PopupLiner thermal box liners are IPC’s solution for a high-performance thermal container engineered to maintain frozen and refrigerated shipments for 72-96 hours. Each PopupLiner box liner is composed of two C-shaped liners for a six-sided box. The insulated boxes are unique in that they provide an alternative form of temperature-control packaging that is fully collapsible and compressible using IPC’s patented technology. (Patent #US 8,333,279)
CelluLiner is made from 100% curbside recyclable materials, these packaging solutions are designed for 48- to 72 hr protection of frozen or refrigerated goods. Constructed with an advanced multi-layered paper design, they offer superior insulation. Like PopupLiner, CelluLiner also ships collapsed and flat packed for efficient storage and cost-effective transit.


Thermal Performance Comparison of IPC’s PopupLiner Box Liner
EPS coolers and IPC’s insulated box liners (with a wall thickness of 1.25″) were comparison tested under controlled conditions in an environmental chamber to compare the thermal performance in maintaining the frozen state of a pint of ice cream.
The experiments were designed to assess the sublimation rate of dry ice and record the ice cream temperature in IPC products and EPS coolers.
We placed the same amount of dry ice (5lb) in each pack-out, exposed the shippers to a standard summer temperature profile (ISTA 7D 24h summer), and measured the remaining dry ice intermittently throughout the experiment. The weight of the dry ice versus elapsed time is plotted below.
Result: IPC’s PopupLiner insulated shipping box thermally outperforms EPS coolers and reduces dry ice consumption, depending on the application, by up to 33%. This translates to increased savings in refrigerants.

Thermal Performance Comparison of IPC’s PopupLiner Box Liner

Space-Efficiency: A Deciding Factor in Cold Chain

Unlike EPS coolers that are bulky and are shipped in their final form, IPC insulated boxes arrive collapsed and fully compressed. Using compressed IPC products will save 75% in shipping and warehouse space as compared to same numbers of EPS coolers.
This staggering space-efficiency feature helps IPC’s clients receive industry-best pricing made possible by the reduced inbound freight cost as well as savings in labor achieved via the reduced handling requirements.
This makes IPC’s insulated shipping products one of the most cost-efficient substitutes for EPS cooler containers on the market today. In addition, IPC’s PopupLiner panels absorbs shock and stress from rough handling.

Summary
The comparative study demonstrated the superiority of the temperature-controlled insulated box liners designed and manufactured by IPC as compared to EPS coolers in maintaining low temperatures used in transport of frozen food. Although EPS coolers are one of the most widely used insulating products in the food industry; some of its disadvantages, such as mediocre thermal performance, high storage volume, and non- biodegradability, make its use economically unjustifiable.
IPC can provide alternative insulating solutions to EPS coolers with no tooling cost while providing 75% savings in shipping space and significant reduction (up to 33%) in required dry ice required for frozen food transport.
These solutions offer affordable thermal protection without the downsides of high shipping expense and large storage requirements normally associated with insulting products such as EPS coolers.


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About Insulated Products Corporation (IPC)
Since being founded in 1999, IPC has been an innovator of thermal packaging solutions. We have spent over a decade studying, perfecting, consistently producing and delivering effective cold chain thermal packaging to companies shipping medicines, foods, and industrial goods worldwide. IPC designs and manufactures, in-house, a variety of custom temperature control products for the cold chain shipping industry.
All of IPC’s solutions provide high performance, while remaining space-efficient and green. We thrive on special requirements including custom sizes, extended shipping durations, unique temperature requirements, and sustainability. Maintaining strict temperatures, maximizing payload, and minimizing weight and preparation time are the cornerstones of IPC cold chain solutions.
Contact us today to discuss your unique temperature assurance packaging requirements
