Soft Drink Emulsions
Flavoring emulsions used in the production of bottled soft drinks must consist of droplets of uniform size that are small enough to prevent agglomeration or Ostwald ripening, both of which can result in the “breaking” of the emulsion and formation of a cosmetically undesirable “neck ring” inside the bottle. Since the process leading up to the neck ring is gradual, it can be detected in it’s early stages.
Techniques for measuring the droplet size emulsions
The droplet size distribution measurements of flavoring emulsions is one predictor used to avoid phase separation and neck ring formation. Of the various techniques available for measuring the droplet size of emulsions single particle optical sizing is uniquely capable of detecting the presence of over-sized outliers in the tail of an emulsion distribution.
The droplet size distributions of several flavoring emulsions used for soft drinks are shown in the figure below. Obvious differences in the amount and size of the over-sized particles can be seen. The percent greater than 1 µm can be used to quantify the quality of the emulsion for use in a soft drink and to predict the eventual presence of a neck ring. The AccuSizer 780 AD is used in emulsion labs around the world to determine the droplet size of these flavor emulsions.
Droplet Size Distributions of Soft Drink Flavor Emulsions