Viscosity of protein-stabilized emulsions: Contributions of components and development of a semipredictive model

Protein-stabilized emulsions can be seen as mixtures of unadsorbed proteins and protein-stabilized droplets. To identify the contributions of these two components to the overall viscosity of sodium caseinate o/w emulsions, the rheological behavior of pure suspensions of proteins and droplets was characterized, and their properties were used to model the behavior of their mixtures. These materials are conveniently studied in the framework developed for soft colloids. Here, the use of viscosity models for the two types of pure suspensions facilitates the development of a semiempirical model that relates the viscosity of protein-stabilized emulsions to their composition.