Production of CO 2 clathrate hydrate frozen desserts by flash freezing

Abstract

CO 2 clathrate hydrate is a crystalline water–carbon dioxide structure that can enable novel, strongly carbonated frozen desserts. A CO 2 flash-freezing process has been developed to form CO 2 hydrates during freezing of a dessert mixture. In the process, liquid CO 2 and liquid dessert mixture are emulsified and then sprayed into a chamber in which the CO 2 flashes to a vapor causing the dessert mixture to freeze into a low-density powder. To ensure CO 2 hydrate formation it is important to avoid ice formation because ice to CO 2 hydrate conversion proceeds too slowly to occur during flash freezing. To avoid ice formation it is important to flash the emulsion to a pressure greater than 4.7 bars and disperse the mixture in fine droplets. In this work the key parameters of the process are described, which will enable development of commercial dispensers.