Award details

Phase Behaviour and Stability of Food Emulsions

Reference	BBS/E/F/03350869
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Robert Penfold
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Dr Margaret Robins
Institution	Quadram Institute Bioscience
Department	Quadram Institute Bioscience Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	122,762
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/04/1997
End date	31/03/1999
Duration	24 months

Abstract

Experimental studies are now able to probe, in considerable detail, the stability of colloidal suspensions that are ubiquitous throughout the food industry. Ultrasonic apparatus invented at IFR Norwich is, for the first time, being used to characterise the flocculation mechanism of oil-in-water emulsions as well as the subsequent bulk phase separation (creaming). Processed food emulsions typically incorporate nonabsorbing polymers, dissolved in the continuous phase, to enhance mouthfeel, improve texture and prolong shelf-life time. Small ion electrolyte is also unavoidably present, while commercial stabilisers and surfactants often also carry a net charge. The theoretical understanding of such complex fluid systems is still at an immature stage. Interactions of charged particles are often described in terms of simple linear response within a mean field approximation. For strongly coupled systems of practical interest the neglect of both long and short ranged ion-ion correlations, implicit in this approach, cannot be justified. By considering the statistical mechanics of classical Coulomb fluids and making use of modern condensed matter theory as well as computer simulation methods, the balance of attractive and repulsive forces will be analysed. A co-ordinated series of experimental studies will be undertaken to validate the theoretically predicted phase diagrams of both physical model emulsions and real food systems.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Agri-food (AF)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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