Coalescence of protein-stabilised emulsions studied with microfluidics

摘要

Emulsion droplet formation occurs in milliseconds to seconds when emulsifier adsorption is often not yet completed, therewith allowing coalescence to take place. Because of these short time-scales, it is difficult to quantify adsorption and coalescence during processing. A microfluidic device can be used to measure coalescence shortly after droplet formation in laminar flow, and this device was used to assess coalescence of oil-in-water emulsions stabilised with dairy proteins(beta-lactoglobulin, whey protein isolate, and oxidised whey protein isolate). Different microfluidic designs were used to vary the protein adsorption time prior to droplet collision.