Abstract
This work is part of a study aiming to design a high-throughput foaming microsystem. The main focused field of application is the food industry. With the objective of improving the design of the microdevice, the effects of the geometry and the nature of the liquid base are presently investigated through visualizations of the flow typology of bubbles trains, aiming to expand the knowledge on key parameters that lead to an improved gas breakup. The tested set of conditions is not encountered in traditional microfluidics systems: i.e., throughputs up to 19 L·h−1 for the liquid phase, process velocities around 20 m·s−1 and flow of complex fluids. The behavior of solutions based on xanthan gum (XG) and whey proteins (WPI) is compared to that of solutions containing one of these ingredients or other ones (caseinates, glycerol). The structural and end-used properties of the final foams, namely the bubble diameter and rheological behavior, are evaluated. The incorporation of XG induces bubble shape stabilization even at the highest shear rates (~105 s−1) encountered in the mixing channel. “Controlled” interfacial breakup by tip-streaming or binary breakup are only observed with the WPI/XG biopolymers. This study indubitably highlights the essential role of the process/formulation interaction in the development of structural and functional properties of food foams when using microfluidics at high throughput.
Highlights
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This study has investigated the use of microchannels for the production of liquid food foams using model solutions formulated with native whey protein isolates and xanthan gum
The formulation as well as the liquid flowrates and the foam void fraction were selected in accordance with relevant conditions for food industrial applications
Summary
Foams are two-phase systems consisting of bubbles dispersed in a continuous liquid matrix. The properties deriving from this bi-phasic structuration make them highly useful in several industrial domains such as food industry, cosmetics and pharmaceutics [1,2]. The gas volume fraction, the size and size distribution of bubbles are the structural parameters governing the end properties of these systems [3,4,5]. The target void fraction is usually in the range of 0.5 to 0.9, and bubbles sizes are commonly between 0.1 and 3 mm [6]. The interaction between the formulation and process conditions determines the final foam structure [2,7,8]
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