Liquid and Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Loading into Chewing Gum Base

Abstract

The sorption and loading of liquid and supercritical CO2 into chewing gum base spheres with radii of 0.5 cm was experimentally explored over the temperature and pressure ranges of 25−45 °C and 70−276 bar, respectively. Maximum loading amounts were found to be independent of temperature and to increase with increasing CO2 density. The time required to achieve maximum loading decreased with increasing temperature. A loading as high as 0.094 g of CO2 per gram of gum base was achieved. The sorption process was modeled by unsteady-state radial Fickian diffusion assuming a constant diffusion coefficient at a particular temperature and pressure (CO2 density). Volume changes of the polymer blend spheres under the conditions explored were small and ignored in the modeling. Sorption diffusion coefficients were on the order of 10-10 m2/s and increased with increasing temperature and CO2 density.