Structural changes in biscuits made with cellulose emulsions as fat replacers

[EN] Biscuits are a popular baked cereal food much appreciated by consumers. In the last few years, cellulose derivatives have been successfully used as fat replacers in biscuits. In this way, not only is the total amount of fat reduced but also the saturated fatty acids and the trans fatty acids are eliminated. The aim of this study is to increase understanding of the functionality of different cellulose ether emulsions used as fat replacers in biscuits. For this purpose, three emulsions with different cellulose ethers were designed: hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, methylcellulose and methylcellulose with greater methoxyl substitution (MCH). The microstructure and textural properties of the doughs and biscuits prepared with these emulsions were studied and the effects of cellulose types and glycerol as textural improver were also analysed. The results showed that the incorporation of glycerol in the doughs made with methylcellulose and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose cellulose emulsions seems to make the dough softer, bringing the values closer to those of the control dough; however, this effect disappears once the dough is baked. The presence of glycerol does not seem to have an effect on the hardness of the doughs and biscuits made using the methylcellulose with greater methoxyl substitution (MCH) emulsion.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The authors are grateful to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for financial support (AGL2015-68923-C2) and gratefully acknowledge the financial support of EU FEDER funds.Teresa Sanz; Quiles Chuliá, MD.; Salvador Alcaraz, A.; Hernando Hernando, MI. (2017). Structural changes in biscuits made with cellulose emulsions as fat replacers. Food Science and Technology International. 23(6):480-489. https://doi.org/10.1177/1082013217703273S48048923

Synthesis of macroporous silica from solid-stabilised emulsion templates

We have investigated the microstructures of the solid residue left behind after the evaporation of solid-stabilised emulsions. The correlation between the microstructure and the properties and preparation conditions of the emulsions will be thoroughly discussed. The type of microstructure is related to the conditions (oil type, oil content, particle type, particle concentration and emulsion type) of the initial emulsion. Solid residues left after evaporation of oil-in-water emulsions containing volatile oils (relative to water) show a "knobbly" microstructure. When oils with similar or lower vapour pressure to that of water were used, "sponge-like" structures were obtained. For emulsions containing volatile oils, the mean drop diameter is similar to the mean pore diameter, whereas when oils with low vapour pressure are used, the pores are much smaller. Finally, this paper will illustrate that stable toluene-in-water emulsions leave porous microstructures, whereas water-in-toluene emulsions and emulsions close to the phase inversion show sheet-like or "knobbly" structure. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

Electrically conductive monofilaments for smart textiles

The main objective of this work is to develop conductive yarns to be used as electrical wiring in e-textiles with the typical mechanical properties of a textile yarn. Present work deals with the study of conductive polymer composites filaments of PP (polypropylene) with CB (carbon black), carbon black of high conductivity (CBHC) and CF (carbon fibers) .The novelty of this work resides in creating oriented filaments using traditional fiber processing techniques together with a specially designed drafting machine. In the authors’ opinion, the composite conductivity could be improved with the orientation of the (nano)carbon-based fillers by melt drawing after extrusion in order to facilitate the flow channels creation

How Do Emulsions Evaporate?

Evaporation rates of water and oil from creamed oil-in-water emulsions have been measured under conditions of controlled gas flow. The continuous water phases of the emulsions evaporate at rates equal to that for pure water under the same conditions. The evaporation rates of dispersed oil drops are retarded, relative to nonemulsified oil, by factors ranging from 1 to 20. Rates for different emulsified oils are all consistent with a mechanism in which the oil drops remain separated from the vapor phase by a thin water film at the emulsion surface. Oil transport from the drops to the vapor occurs by diffusion of dissolved oil across this water film. Measured evaporation rates show good agreement with model calculations based on this proposed mechanism

Thermoforming of thermoset composites manufactured by pultrusion

In this work the development of a profile manufactured by pultrusion and thereafter curved by thermoforming is presented. The pultrusion profile is based on a new thermostable epoxy resin with dynamic bonds capable of being reprocessed, repaired and recycled thanks to the incorporation of reversible links within its reticulated structure (3R Technology). Being a resin that contains dynamic bonds, the cured composite shows unexpected properties for thermosetting materials. In a first phase, a new resin/hardener formulation processable by pultrusion with a viscosity, adhesion to the fibre and speed of curing similar to a conventional formulation have been developed and in a second phase, taking into account the properties of the new composite material, the parameters of the thermoforming process (pressure, temperature or speed of thermoforming) have been analysed and optimized. Thanks to the combination of pultrusion and thermoforming processes, longitudinal 3R composite profiles acquire a new curved geometry defined by the design of a mould. In this way, the thermoforming of the straight profiles will allow manufacturing curved parts from profiles of thermostable composites with high mechanical performance manufactured by pultrusion in medium-high rates, typical of the automotive sector. Additionally, it will be shown that the profiles manufactured using these composites can be recycled, reducing the amount of waste generated and offering these materials a second useful life