Progress 07/01/21 to 08/03/22

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience would be US and internationalbeveragemanufacturers who are looking to improve the stability of their products and suspend flavored oils using a clean label natural ingredient sourced from agricultural crops and food byproducts. Consumers are demanding that beverage companies improve their ingredients to be more simple and natural. However, beverage companies have limited options that function at stabilizing beverages and there are virtually no options that are natural. Current weighting agents used to help stabilize flavored oils are high regulated and only permitted to be used at low usage levels because of their known toxicity. Changes/Problems:Some minor delays were experienced due to the pandemic and anextension was filed. The delays were mostly due to outside labs getting people back to conduct some ofthe tests that were proposed in the Phase I project plan.However, the project has worked out good, results were positive and we have now completed the Phase I project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A new PhD scientist was added to our R&D team at Fiberstar to help with the project and we have also expanded our R&D lab space. It's likely during Phase II if tests continue to be successful that we'll file a patent but thus far we've held off until we advance and scale-up the technology further. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Initial results have been shared with potential customers and a potential partner that we've idenified to collaborate on the project. As a result, regular meetings are ongoing to provide updates as the project progresses and for us to receive project feedback. Once we produce scaled-up samples, we'll be selecting potential customers and partners to provide product samples to. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? .New technologies were developed during this project to enhance the stabilty of flavored oils in beverages. Feasibility was demonstrated at producing stable beverages using the Densi-Fi technology without the need for commonly used chemicalweighting agents. Both room temperature and accelerated studies were conducted to evaluate beverage stability. Several flavored oils were also sourced during the project for comparison purposes and it was evident that the type of oil used in the beverage also makes an impact on stability.Because of the superior suspension properties and surface activity, there are several beverage applications, e.g. carbonated beverages, fruit juices, and milk types of products would benefit from Densi-Fi. Additionally, discussions were had with several potential beverage customers of the Densi-Fi technology and letters of support from many of them were submitted in with the Phase II proposal.

Publications