Long-Term Continuous Production of Soybean Oil-in-Water Emulsions by Microchannel Emulsification

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of operating time and emulsifier type on the production of oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions during long-term continuous microchannel (MC) emulsification. The continuous phase used was an aqueous solution containing 1.0 wt% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) or polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monolaurate (Tween 20). On day 1, uniform soybean oil droplets with an average diameter (d_av) of 22 − 23 μm and a coefficient of variation (CV) of < 3% were successfully generated using a silicon grooved MC array plate (model CMS6-2), regardless of the emulsifier type. For the SDS-containing system, the d_av and CV values and the smooth droplet generation were almost unchanged during 7 days of continuous MC emulsification. For the Tween 20-containing system, we observed a slight increase in d_av, a gradual increase in CV, and asymmetric droplet generation between days 3 and 7.