Method development for studying the particle size distribution of high-pressure homogenized oat beverages with retained fiber fraction
(2024) KLTM02 20241Food Technology and Nutrition (M.Sc.)
- Abstract
- In current oat beverage production, insoluble components such as fiber fractions (plant cell structures) are usually decentered from the product, causing many types of loss. Retaining these fractions requires an efficient breakage of them, to avoid sandy mouthfeel in the end-product, which can be achieved for instance by homogenization. To study the homogenization efficiency, the resulted particle size distribution (PSD) is measured. Laser diffraction (LD) is commonly used for PSD measurements, but its applicability to asymmetrical particles has been a concern. The mathematical model it utilizes assumes that the particles are spherical and homogenous, which oat fiber particles are not. The main objective of this study was to verify the use... (More)
- In current oat beverage production, insoluble components such as fiber fractions (plant cell structures) are usually decentered from the product, causing many types of loss. Retaining these fractions requires an efficient breakage of them, to avoid sandy mouthfeel in the end-product, which can be achieved for instance by homogenization. To study the homogenization efficiency, the resulted particle size distribution (PSD) is measured. Laser diffraction (LD) is commonly used for PSD measurements, but its applicability to asymmetrical particles has been a concern. The mathematical model it utilizes assumes that the particles are spherical and homogenous, which oat fiber particles are not. The main objective of this study was to verify the use of LD with static image analysis (SIA) in PSD measurements of oat-based beverages. For this purpose, a laboratory-scale method to produce oat beverage and particle size analysis methods for LD and SIA were established. Additionally, the advantages and limitations of sieving before PSD analysis was demonstrated. To investigate the correlation between LD and SIA, premixes prepared from two different oat flours were homogenized at different first stage pressures or at the same pressure multiple times. As expected, the particle size was found to decrease with higher homogenization pressure and the number of passes. Most importantly, the results revealed a strong correlation between LD and SIA measurements and furthermore, a lower standard deviation of LD instrument verifying the use of LD as a reliable PSD method for studying the particle size of oat cell structures in oat-based beverages. Furthermore, the results raised concerns about homogenizer pressure fluctuations and energy efficiency of homogenization process, which requires more research and may be beneficial for optimizing homogenizer design in the future. (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- Sustainability in homogenization and oat beverage production – A study on method development for oat beverages with retained fiber contents
Are you an oat drink fan? Do you enjoy your coffee with Oatly or Oddlygood Barista? This study might be of interest to you.
Oat-based beverages have been growing in the market worldwide, because of their nutritional value and potential beneficial health effects. The well-accepted smooth mouthfeel of commercial oat drinks is typically achieved by filtering away big insoluble particles. However, getting rid of these has some drawbacks too, such as increased food waste and loss of nutritious fiber, minerals, and proteins. To address this, the development of more sustainable whole-oat beverages with... (More) - Sustainability in homogenization and oat beverage production – A study on method development for oat beverages with retained fiber contents
Are you an oat drink fan? Do you enjoy your coffee with Oatly or Oddlygood Barista? This study might be of interest to you.
Oat-based beverages have been growing in the market worldwide, because of their nutritional value and potential beneficial health effects. The well-accepted smooth mouthfeel of commercial oat drinks is typically achieved by filtering away big insoluble particles. However, getting rid of these has some drawbacks too, such as increased food waste and loss of nutritious fiber, minerals, and proteins. To address this, the development of more sustainable whole-oat beverages with even higher nutritional value has attracted attention. However, the retained large fiber particles can cause a sandy mouthfeel and fast sedimentation on the bottom of the coffee cup, ruining the morning coffee experience.
In this project, a method was developed for studying the size of these nutritious but problematic particles to be able to innovate more efficient processing equipment for breaking down these plant cell structures. Like traditional milk, oat beverage is usually homogenized to achieve a uniform consistency. However, using the same equipment to homogenize plant-based products might not be perfect, as it isn’t clear how the plant cells are broken in this equipment. To investigate this, different homogenization designs will be tested, but before that we need a reliable method to assess the performance of each design by measuring the resulting particle size.
One option is laser diffraction (LD), which is traditionally used to measure the size of fat globules in milk. However, due to its mechanism the use of LD in plant cell particle size measurements leaves a question mark. Another candidate is static image analysis (SIA), which gives more direct size characterization but also has limitations. Between these two methods, LD is preferrable since it’s quicker and more convenient, and therefore we wanted to validate its application on studying oat beverages.
Three trials were conducted in this study, in which oat beverages were produced and homogenized under different conditions, followed by particle size measurements. Some additional methods such as premix verification, sieving, and dry matter measurement of the sieved samples were also performed and examined. The three trials plus one commercial sample measurement had a common goal: To compare the measurements achieved by LD and SIA and find a possible correlation.
Good news: the correlation was indeed found between LD and SIA measurements, which is the main finding of this project. Moreover, LD was found to give more consistent measurements than SIA. Other findings include the relevance and limitations of sieving the samples prior to measuring particle size, the importance of keeping track of dry matter content of the sieved samples, and the considerations about pressure fluctuations and energy consumption of the homogenizing equipment.
All in all, measuring particle size is crucial for studying whole oat beverages and new homogenizing designs. The method developed in this project will hopefully be helpful for future studies including our supervisor’s PhD project. Finally, stay tuned for the whole oat beverages! (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9162829
- author
- Liu, Xintian LU and Åkerfeldt, Essi Aurora LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- Method development for studying high-pressure homogenized oat-based beverages
- course
- KLTM02 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- high-pressure homogenization, oat beverage, cell disruption, oat fibers, particle size distribution, laser diffraction, static image analysis, food engineering, nutrition and food chemistry
- language
- English
- id
- 9162829
- date added to LUP
- 2024-06-14 14:28:34
- date last changed
- 2024-06-14 14:28:34
@misc{9162829,
abstract = {{In current oat beverage production, insoluble components such as fiber fractions (plant cell structures) are usually decentered from the product, causing many types of loss. Retaining these fractions requires an efficient breakage of them, to avoid sandy mouthfeel in the end-product, which can be achieved for instance by homogenization. To study the homogenization efficiency, the resulted particle size distribution (PSD) is measured. Laser diffraction (LD) is commonly used for PSD measurements, but its applicability to asymmetrical particles has been a concern. The mathematical model it utilizes assumes that the particles are spherical and homogenous, which oat fiber particles are not. The main objective of this study was to verify the use of LD with static image analysis (SIA) in PSD measurements of oat-based beverages. For this purpose, a laboratory-scale method to produce oat beverage and particle size analysis methods for LD and SIA were established. Additionally, the advantages and limitations of sieving before PSD analysis was demonstrated. To investigate the correlation between LD and SIA, premixes prepared from two different oat flours were homogenized at different first stage pressures or at the same pressure multiple times. As expected, the particle size was found to decrease with higher homogenization pressure and the number of passes. Most importantly, the results revealed a strong correlation between LD and SIA measurements and furthermore, a lower standard deviation of LD instrument verifying the use of LD as a reliable PSD method for studying the particle size of oat cell structures in oat-based beverages. Furthermore, the results raised concerns about homogenizer pressure fluctuations and energy efficiency of homogenization process, which requires more research and may be beneficial for optimizing homogenizer design in the future.}},
author = {{Liu, Xintian and Åkerfeldt, Essi Aurora}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Method development for studying the particle size distribution of high-pressure homogenized oat beverages with retained fiber fraction}},
year = {{2024}},
}