Influence of alcohol on stability of oil-in-water emulsions containing sodium caseinate

The effect of alcohol on the stability of oil-in-water emulsions of similar mean droplet size made with 4 wt% sodium caseinate and 35 vol% n-tetradecane was investigated. Controlled stress viscometry showed that, shortly after preparation, emulsions containing 25 vol% ethanol are of low viscosity and almost Newtonian in character. In contrast, emulsions containing little or no alcohol (less than or equal to 10 vol%) exhibit pseudoplastic behavior with a much higher limiting low-stress viscosity. Time-dependent creaming profiles were determined at 30 degrees C using an ultrasound velocity scanning technique with a linear renormalization data analysis. The addition of alcohol was found to have relatively little effect on the long-term creaming stability, which was uniformly characteristic of a flocculated emulsion. The presence of alcohol leads to Ostwald ripening, as demonstrated by the gradual shift in monomodal droplet-size distribution during prolonged storage. Ostwald ripening is probably the main reason for the stepwise reduction in oil concentration in the serum phase of the stored alcohol-containing emulsions. Time-dependent rheology measurements of alcohol-rich emulsions showed an apparent shear viscosity increasing steadily over a matter of hours, suggesting that flocculation was not eliminated, but merely slowed, by the presence of the alcohol. It is proposed that the presence of alcohol modifies the average size and composition of the unadsorbed caseinate submicelles which are putatively responsible for the depletion flocculation. Reducing the mean diameter of droplets in alcohol-containing emulsions by prolonged homogenization was found to enhance the short-term emulsion creaming stability, but the long-term stability was essentially unaffected due to the predominant influence of Ostwald ripening. (C) 1998 Academic Press.