Scientists have discovered a new way to transport liquids like chocolate, lotion, and sauces. They hope to patent it soon. They adjusted the viscosity and elasticity of fluids in the food and personal care products industries during the processing of materials. DST SERB India and the Raman Research Institute jointly funded the research. The research could aid in the understanding of fluid-fluid interface instabilities, which is important for the design and improvement of processes like filtration and metal electrodeposition. When instabilities are reduced, more viscous and elastic fluid can be displaced more efficiently.
Key Highlight:
- Scientists adjusted the viscosity and elasticity of fluids in the food and personal care products industries during the processing of materials.
- The research could aid in the understanding of fluid-fluid interface instabilities, which is important for the design and improvement of processes like filtration and metal electrodeposition.
- When instabilities are reduced, more viscous and elastic fluid can be displaced more efficiently.
- The researchers hope to patent it soon.
- The study was published in Colloids and Surfaces A.
the viscosity and elasticity of fluids during the materials processing in the food and personal care products industries, scientists have found a new method to improve the transportation of fluids such as chocolate, lotions, and sauce by tuning
In most pipeline transport applications, a more viscous fluid is displaced by a less viscous one. As a result of these instabilities at the fluid-fluid interface, the former can invade the latter in a variety of patterns. Impurities are created during transportation due to the intricate intrusion pattern. To ensure smooth fluid transportation during processing, instabilities must be eliminated.
According to Raman Research Institute scientists, the viscosity and concentration-dependent elasticity of the displaced fluid can be changed to reduce instability and control the roughness of the interfacial pattern as well as the efficiency of displacement, both of which are affected by viscosity and concentration.
Researchers used non-Newtonian viscoelastic fluids like corn starch aqueous suspensions and Newtonian fluids like glycerol-water mixtures in this study, which was funded jointly by DST SERB India and the Raman Research Institute. The viscosity ratio between the displacing fluid (glycerol-water mixtures) and the displaced fluid (corn starch suspension) was altered in the first set of experiments by varying the viscosity of the glycerol water mixture. While the viscosity of the corn starch suspension remained constant, that of the glycerol-water mixture changed when the amount of glycerol was adjusted. The viscosity ratio was maintained constant in the second set of experiments, which looked at the impact of the suspension’s elasticity. Changing the elasticity of the corn starch suspension changed its concentration, while choosing different concentrations of the glycerol-water mixture did not change the viscosity ratio between them. Colloids and Surfaces A is where the study was published.
In industries like food processing, oil recovery, and sugar refining, suppressing instabilities leads to efficient displacement of the more viscous and viscoelastic fluid. Studying instabilities at the interface between two fluids can help with processes like filtration and metal electrodeposition, as well as the mixing and demixing of two phases like sugar and chocolate that can affect chocolate’s texture and taste. These processes are important in the design and enhancement of chocolate.
