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With the improvement of people's living standards, consumers' requirements for food are not only limited to reasonable nutritional value, but also require food to have satisfactory quality in sensory characteristics such as appearance, color, aroma, taste, viscosity, freshness, etc.

Emulsifiers, as food additives for conditioning, play an important role in the food industry. Let's take a look at the mechanism of action of emulsifiers!

Emulsion

The common emulsion in food consists of water or aqueous solution, collectively referred to as the hydrophilic phase; The other phase is an organic phase that is immiscible with water, also known as the lipophilic phase. Two immiscible liquids, such as water and oil, can form two types of emulsions when mixed, namely water in oil (O/W) and water in oil (W/O) emulsions.

In a water in oil emulsion, oil is dispersed as tiny droplets in water, with oil droplets as the dispersing phase and water as the dispersing medium. For example, cow's milk is an O/W emulsion; In water in oil emulsions, the opposite is true. Water is dispersed as tiny droplets in the oil, with water as the dispersing phase and oil as the dispersing medium. For example, artificial butter is a type of W/O emulsion.

The mechanism of action of emulsifiers

Food emulsifiers, also known as surfactants, are substances that convert immiscible liquids into uniformly dispersed phases (emulsions). When added to food, they can significantly reduce the interfacial tension between oil and water, allowing immiscible oils (hydrophobic substances) and water (hydrophilic substances) to form stable emulsions as food additives.

On the one hand, emulsifiers form a thin molecular layer on the mutually repulsive phase surfaces, reducing the surface free energy of the entire system and forming new interfaces. Emulsifier molecules have hydrophilic and oleophilic functional groups, which can adsorb on the mutually repulsive phase surfaces of oil and water, forming a thin molecular layer and reducing the interfacial tension between the two phases. That is, the oleophilic part of the oil molecule and the emulsifier is on one side, and the hydrophilic part of the water molecule and the emulsifier is on the other side. This interaction between the two causes a change in interfacial tension;

On the other hand, by forming a protective adsorption layer on the surface of the droplet, it endows the droplet with strong spatial stability. The more emulsifiers are added, the greater the decrease in interfacial tension. This allows previously immiscible substances to be uniformly mixed, forming a homogeneous dispersed system that changes the original physical state, thereby improving the internal structure of the food and enhancing its quality.
Hydrophilic and oleophilic equilibrium value

Generally, emulsifiers with strong hydrophilicity form oil/water emulsions, while emulsifiers with strong hydrophilicity form water/oil emulsions. To indicate the hydrophilic and lipophilic balance of emulsifiers, HLB value (hydrophilic lipophilic balance value) is usually used, and HLB value is used to represent the hydrophilicity of emulsifiers. There are various calculation methods for HLB value,

Difference formula: HLB=hydrophilicity of hydrophilic group - hydrophobicity of lipophilic group

Ratio formula: HLB=hydrophilicity of hydrophilic group/hydrophobicity of oleophilic group

The HLB value of each emulsifier can be determined by experimental methods. For emulsifiers with 100% lipophilicity, their HLB is 0 (represented by paraffin wax), and for those with 100% hydrophilicity, their HLB is 20 (represented by potassium oleate), divided into 20 equal parts to indicate the strength of their hydrophilicity and oleophilicity. The larger the HLB value, the stronger the hydrophilicity, and the smaller the HLB value, the stronger the oleophilicity.

The vast majority of edible emulsifiers are non-ionic surfactants with HLB values ranging from 0 to 20. The different HLB values and related properties of non-ionic emulsifiers are shown in the table; The HLB value of ionic surfactants is 0-40. Therefore, emulsifiers with HLB values<10 are mainly lipophilic, while emulsifiers with HLB values ≥ 10 have hydrophilic characteristics.

For mixed emulsifiers, their HLB values have additive properties. Therefore, when two or more emulsifiers are mixed and used, the HLB value of the mixed emulsifier can be calculated based on the mass fraction of each emulsifier in its composition:

HLBa,b =HLBa·A%+HLBb·B%

In the formula,

HLBa, b is the HLB value of emulsifier a, b mixed together;

HLBa and HLBb are the HLB values of emulsifiers a and b, respectively;

A% and B% are the percentage contents of a and b in the mixed emulsifier, respectively (this formula only applies to non-ionic emulsifiers).
Preparation methods and influencing factors of emulsifiers

There are four methods for preparing emulsifiers, namely dry gel method, wet gel method, oil-water phase mixing method, and mechanical method.

Dry gel method, which involves adding water to an oil phase containing emulsifiers. During preparation, the rubber powder (emulsifier) is first mixed evenly with the oil, a certain amount of water is added, ground and emulsified into colostrum, and then diluted with water to the full amount.

Wet gel method, which involves adding oil to a water phase containing emulsifiers. During preparation, the gel (emulsifier) is first dissolved in water to form a slurry as the water phase. Then, the oil phase is added to the water phase in stages, ground into colostrum, and water is added to the full amount.

Mix the oil and water phases and add them to the emulsifier, mixing a certain amount of oil and water. Grind Arabic gum into a mortar, then quickly grind the oil-water mixture into colostrum, and dilute with water.

The preparation of emulsifiers mainly involves emulsifying two liquids, and the quality of emulsification has a significant impact on the quality of the emulsion.

The factors that affect emulsification mainly include interfacial tension, viscosity and temperature, emulsification time, and the amount of emulsifier used. Emulsifiers that can significantly reduce interfacial tension are generally selected; The most suitable emulsification temperature for emulsifiers is around 70 ℃. If non-ionic surfactants are used as emulsifiers, the emulsification temperature should not exceed their peak temperature; The more emulsifiers are used, the more stable the emulsion formed.

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