Mechanical incorporation and dispersion of water in a semi-solid fat matrix
Abstract
In the context of food processing, a study of the mechanical dispersion of water in a semi-solid fat matrix is proposed. The goal is to produce at ambient temperature, a water-in-fat emulsion, homogeneous at small scale and with a fine granulometry (order of few tens of microns). Based on bench scale experiments realized by hand-mixing or in a batch stirrer of specific design, it is observed that, incorporation of water takes place in the furrows produced in the semi-solid fat by the stirring mobile, a pattern that results from the existence of a significant apparent yield stress of the fat matrix. From that observation, a simple model of incorporation kinetics is inferred, which postulates that the volume of incorporated water in fat is proportional to the volume of emulsion displaced by the stirrer motion. This model well predicts experimental data of incorporation time, in a wide range of water fraction. Then it is shown that the dispersion of incorporated water in fat can be probed by means of X-ray computed μ-tomography with a good accuracy. Thanks to this measurement technique, it is shown that water is spatially dispersed in the semi-solid fat, under the form of spherical drops, homogeneously distributed in space. Size distribution of water drops is unimodal and very well described by a normal or slightly log-normal law, spreading over less than a decade and centered around few tens of microns, right after incorporation. The evolution of d₄₃ mean diameter of these distributions with the mixing time, has been modeled as a function of the torque and the stirrer rotation speed, based on a simple physical model of droplet deformation into a cylindrical filament. This study clears the way for the design of a continuous process.
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BibTeX
@article{violas2026mechanical,
title = {{Mechanical incorporation and dispersion of water in a semi-solid fat matrix}},
author = {Antoine Violas and Kevin Roger and Simon Bugeat and Paul Duru and Olivier C Masbernat},
journal = {Journal of Food Engineering},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2026.113367},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05800107v2},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Mechanical incorporation and dispersion of water in a semi-solid fat matrix
AU - Antoine Violas
AU - Kevin Roger
AU - Simon Bugeat
AU - Paul Duru
AU - Olivier C Masbernat
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/10
JO - Journal of Food Engineering
DO - 10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2026.113367
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05800107v2
AB - In the context of food processing, a study of the mechanical dispersion of water in a semi-solid fat matrix is proposed. The goal is to produce at ambient temperature, a water-in-fat emulsion, homogeneous at small scale and with a fine granulometry (order of few tens of microns). Based on bench scale experiments realized by hand-mixing or in a batch stirrer of specific design, it is observed that, incorporation of water takes place in the furrows produced in the semi-solid fat by the stirring mobile, a pattern that results from the existence of a significant apparent yield stress of the fat matrix. From that observation, a simple model of incorporation kinetics is inferred, which postulates that the volume of incorporated water in fat is proportional to the volume of emulsion displaced by the stirrer motion. This model well predicts experimental data of incorporation time, in a wide range of water fraction. Then it is shown that the dispersion of incorporated water in fat can be probed by means of X-ray computed μ-tomography with a good accuracy. Thanks to this measurement technique, it is shown that water is spatially dispersed in the semi-solid fat, under the form of spherical drops, homogeneously distributed in space. Size distribution of water drops is unimodal and very well described by a normal or slightly log-normal law, spreading over less than a decade and centered around few tens of microns, right after incorporation. The evolution of d₄₃ mean diameter of these distributions with the mixing time, has been modeled as a function of the torque and the stirrer rotation speed, based on a simple physical model of droplet deformation into a cylindrical filament. This study clears the way for the design of a continuous process.
SN - 0260-8774
ER -