Impact of weighting agents and sucrose on gravitational separation of beverage emulsions

The influence of weighting agents land sucrose on gravitational separation in 1 wt % oil-in-water emulsions was studied by measuring changes in the in tensity of backscattered light from the emulsions with height. Emulsions wi th different droplet densities were prepared by mixing weighting agents [br ominated vegetable oil (BVO), ester gum (EG),amar gum (DG), or sucrose acet ate isobutyrate (SAIB)] with soybean oil prior to homogenization. Sedimenta tion or creaming occurred when the droplet density was greater than or lowe r than the aqueous phase density, respectively. The weighting agent concent rations required to match the oil and aqueous phase densities were 25 wt % BVO, 55 wt % EG, 55 wt % DG, and 45 wt % SATE. The efficiency of droplet re duction during homogenization also depended on weighting agent type (BVO > SAIB > DG, EG) due to differences in oil phase viscosity. The influence of sucrose (0-13 wt %) on the creaming stability of 1 wt % soybean oil-in-wate r emulsions was also examined. Sucrose increased the aqueous phase viscosit y (retarding creaming) and increased the density contrast between droplets and aqueous phase (accelerating creaming). These two effects largely cancel ed one another so that the creaming stability was relatively insensitive to sucrose concentration.