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Studying Surfactant Effects on Hydrate Crystallization at Oil-Water Interfaces Using a Low-Cost Integrated Modular Peltier Device
Published on: March 18, 2020
Destabilization of monoglyceride-structured oleogel emulsions by secondary surfactants for enhancing crystal
Chengmei Bai1, Md Shabudden Ahamed1, Ling Wang2
1College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China.
Abstract:
Water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions can enhance saltiness perception through localized sodium release. This study investigated how secondary surfactants affected microstructure, sodium release and saltiness in oleogel-based emulsions structured with glycerol monopalmitate (GMP) or glycerol monolaurate (GML) crystals. In GMP systems, the addition of surfactants weakened the oil-phase crystal network, promoting droplet coalescence and Na+ release. In contrast, GML-based systems exhibited interfacial crystal displacement and a "bubble effect", which synergistically promoted rapid Na+ release. Low-molecular-weight surfactants enhanced saltiness perception more effectively than the protein-based surfactants, increasing saltiness intensity by up to 40% in GMP emulsions. Moreover, several surfactants improved Na+ migration in lingual mucin, which was beneficial for enhancing the saltiness perception. Although GML emulsions showed greater in vitro Na+ release, their rapid oral breakdown minimized perceptual differences among the samples. Overall, these findings provide a robust structure-release-perception framework for the design of salt-reduced food products.
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