Kinetics Study of Biopolymers Mixture with the Help of Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy

Abstract The application of biopolymers such as protein and polysaccharides is becoming increasingly popular due to their remarkable gelling property under certain conditions. In this work, the effects of gelation together with phase separation in the restricted geometries were studied in detail for whey protein isolate (WPI) and polysaccharide mixtures. The results showed that phase separation of the constituents was highly dependent on the concentration of the constituent in the mixture. The results clearly demonstrated that the properties of the system would be different if the size of the final morphological structure of droplet is reduced. The effect of kinetics on the phase separation was also investigated in this study. It was concluded that the microstructure of droplet exhibited different amounts of phase separation before settling where the whole WPI was observed to form the shell, while the polysaccharide was observed to form the core of microstructure. Practical Applications This study provides practical and theoretical information regarding the monodisperse particles of a phase separating and gelling biopolymer mixture of whey protein isolate, gellan gum and locust bean gum which have importance in controlling the kinetics of phase separation to impart stability and desired textural properties to a food product.