Recipient Organization
FIBERSTAR, INC.
713 ST CROIX ST
RIVER FALLS,WI 540223600
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Oil weighting and emulsifying agents are needed to stabilize oils in flavored beverages, such as soft drinks, but current options are limited, heavily regulated, and even banned in many countries. However, despite their need, there are no natural weighting agents in the marketplace today. Meanwhile the global demand for "clean label", "natural ", and "organic" ingredients continues to rapidly grow. The objective of this project is to make a natural weighting agent ingredient produced using sustainable manufacturing practices to stabilize beverage emulsions. By using thermal-mechanical and "green" technology to enhance the surface activity, zeta potential, and amphiphilicity, a plant fiber based ingredient sourced from citrus and/or the sugar beet industry will be used to provide oil stabilization. An additional benefit is that the ingredients can be sourced with organic certification and even provide cost savings opportunities versus current weighting agents. Phase I tests indicated positive findings and feasibility of accomplishing the project objectives. For Phase II, scale up tests, structure-function analyses, and application development are proposed.Based on the positive findings thus far and industry support, the anticipated result is a surface-active weighting agent with large commercial potential that can be commercialized during Phase III.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
50%
Developmental
50%
Goals / Objectives
The goal of this Phase II project is to finalize an oil densifying ingredient, Densi-Fi, with emulsifying properties from agricultural byproducts to stabilize beverages, is natural, and is considered a clean label food ingredient without toxic side effects. During the Phase I project, feasibility was demonstrated of producing such a product. However, for the Phase II project, the goal will be to continue advancement of the Densi-Fi product closer towardscommercialization.To do this, three primary technical objectives are being proposed for Phase II, which are:Technical Objective 1: Manufacturing process development. This part of the project will include pilot scale testing to prove out the process on a larger scale with equipment that is representative of commercial production equipment.Technical Objective 2: Structure-Function characterization testing. This testing will help to better explain the results attained from the pilot scale equipment testing and help ensure success as new processes are tested during scale-up.Technical Objective 3: Application development. Once the final products are produced and before showing samples to customers,information on the expected results when using the Densi-Fi products in a final beverage formulation is important.The application testing can also help to fine tune the production process used to make Densi-Fi.Some additional goals are to use a sustainable process that can be implemented commercially and adopted by customers with minimal changes in their current production process. The ingredients developed in this project would also be considered clean label food ingredients without the toxic side effects of many previous and current oil weighting agents and emulsifiers. Another goal is to develop and organic certified product with similar properties as the proposedDensi-Fi ingredient.
Project Methods
As part of the scale up testing and process development, the following methods will be utilized the characterize the results.1) Compositional testing - to quantify the effect of enzymatic treatments and mechanical refining, the chemical composition, molecular weights, monosaccharide breakdown, degree of esterification, and esterification pattern will be measured. Each manufacturing process treatment that produces a change of Densi-Fi's properties will be tested so that trends between process treatments on composition and functionality can be understood.2) The zeta potential of the Densi-Fi before and after process treatments will be tested with a particle charge mapping instrument.3) The drop size distribution of the Densi-Fi emulsions with varying fiber treatments and homogenizing conditions will be measured with a laser scattering analyzer. To do this, the emulsions will be diluted in a test chamber with deionized water as the blank medium. The volume median diameters (D50) will be used to report the oil droplet size. The shape analysis of the emulsion droplets will be done using the incorporated shape analyzer which uses a high-speed camera to image individual particles between 1-2000 microns in size.4) Rheology Behavior: The rheological behavior of Densi-Fi emulsions with varying treatments will be investigated with a rheometer equipped with a parallel plate system. The apparent viscosity and shear stress as function of shear rate between 1 and 10000 s-1 will be tested.5)Absorbance and Turbidity: A UV-visible spectrophotometer will be used to detect the absorbance and turbidity level of the emulsions. The absorbance and light scattering properties are the two most critical factors that determine emulsion turbidity, which directly influences the appearance of the emulsion. The samples will be placed in a cuvette of one centimeter width, where the electromagnetic wave at the visible region (380-780 nm) will perform a thorough scanning of the emulsion sample. Once the scanning is complete, the absorbance and turbidity spectra of measured values are corrected using the value for distilled water, which is defined as the most transmittable liquid.6)Morphology of the fiber: Scanning electron microscopy (SEM): A scanning electron microscope will be used to reveal the internal structure of Densi-Fi samples.