Application of Microfluidics in the Production and Analysis of Food Foams

Abstract

Emulsifiers play a key role in the stabilization of foam bubbles. In food foams, biopolymers such as proteins are contributing to long-term stability through several effects such as increasing bulk viscosity and the formation of viscoelastic interfaces. Recent studies have identified promising new stabilizers for (food) foams and emulsions, for instance biological particles derived from water-soluble or water-insoluble proteins, (modified) starch as well as chitin. Microfluidic platforms could provide a valuable tool to study foam formation on the single-bubble level, yielding mechanistic insights into the formation and stabilization (as well as destabilization) of foams stabilized by these new stabilizers. Yet, the recent developments in microfluidic technology have mainly focused on emulsions rather than foams. Microfluidic devices have been up-scaled (to some extent) for large-scale emulsion production, and also designed as investigative tools to monitor interfaces at the (sub)millisecond time scale. In this review, we summarize the current state of the art in droplet microfluidics (and, where available, bubble microfluidics), and provide a perspective on the applications for (food) foams. Microfluidic investigations into foam formation and stability are expected to aid in optimization of stabilizer selection and production conditions for food foams, as well as provide a platform for (large-scale) production of monodisperse foams.

The Importance of Interfacial Tension in Emulsification: Connecting Scaling Relations Used in Large Scale Preparation with Microfluidic Measurement Methods

“…Besides liquid-liquid systems, it is expected that many of the discovered principles can be used in other dispersion systems, e.g., foams [105], aqueous two-phase systems [114], etc. For example, the surface elasticity can also be monitored in microfluidic systems, and although this is mostly done for surfactant systems, a lot of progress has also been made in this field [115,116].…”

“…Besides emulsions, it is also expected that other two-phase systems such as foams will benefit greatly from insights obtained through the use of microfluidics [105]. Compared to emulsions, for which only 0.005 wt % β-lactoglobulin was needed for stabilization [70], a much higher concentration was needed for foams (>0.1 wt %), which may be related to the expansion rate during bubble formation that is much higher than for emulsions that have a higher dispersed-phase viscosity.…”

Merits and advances of microfluidics in the pharmaceutical field: design technologies and future prospects

“…T-junction and flow focusing are the commonly utilized channel geometries to create droplets in microfluidic channels (Anna et al., 2003 ; Shui et al., 2007b ; Shembekar et al., 2016 ; Deng et al., 2019 ). In T-junction microchannel devices, the dispersed phase is provided by a microchannel perpendicular to a main channel in which the continuous phase flows ( Figure 6(A) ).…”

Microtechnological Tools to Achieve Sustainable Food Processes, Products, and Ingredients

“…We like to mention the fast given developments in 3D printing [32], but also in making the devices cheaper (paper microfluidics even exist and have been reviewed; [4,63]). This will also be instrumental to other multiphase products such as foams, as recently reviewed [29].…”