Monodisperse Oil-in-Water Emulsions Stabilized by Proteins: How To Master the Average Droplet Size and Stability, While Minimizing the Amount of Proteins

Hexadecane-in-water emulsions were fabricated by means of a microfluidizer using two types of protein stabilizers, sodium caseinate (NaCAS) and β-lactoglobulin (BLG). A study of the dependence of the mean droplet diameter and protein coverage on protein concentration was performed. At low protein concentrations, the emulsions were monodispersed and their mean droplet size was governed by the so-called limited-coalescence process. In this regime, the interfacial coverage was constant and was deduced from the linear evolution of the total interfacial area as a function of the amount of adsorbed proteins. In emulsions based on NaCAS, almost all of the initial protein contents were adsorbed at the interfaces. Emulsions formulated at very low protein content underwent unlimited coalescence after prolonged storage or when submitted to centrifugation. Additional NaCAS was incorporated in the continuous phase, right after the emulsification process, as a means of ensuring kinetic stability. The interfacial coverage increased after protein addition. Other strategies including acidification and salt addition were also probed to gain stability. Instead, in emulsions based on BLG, only partial adsorption of the initial protein content was observed. The corresponding emulsions remained kinetically stable against coalescence, and no further addition of protein was required after emulsification. Our approach allows to obtain monodisperse, kinetically stable emulsions and to master their average droplet size, while minimizing the amount of proteins.