Excessive foaming leads to a drop in production volume, productivity, and process stability. Too much foam can also ruin the consumer’s experience even in shakes and sweet drinks. Foam formation is triggered and promoted by the raw materials processed and by the manufacturing methods used. We find a countermeasure for every foaming problem, whether it is in conventional or organic quality.
Foaming is a ubiquitous phenomenon. It is desirable to a certain extent in some applications – such as beer, for example – but neither producers nor consumers really ever want there to be too much foam. By using defoamers, the amount of foam can be precisely adjusted and controlled to just the right amount, or even until there is barely any or no foam at all.
Surfactants that are used in the formulation, such as proteins, fatty acids, or starches, can stabilize foam on the liquid surface by various mechanisms. This slows down the liquid flow and therefore delays the bursting of the foam bubbles. Defoamers exist in the liquid as a dispersion of droplets that break the foam apart.
Because a defoamer has a lower surface tension than the foaming system, the defoamer accumulates in the foam lamella, at the interface between air and liquid. Given the lower interfacial tension between defoamer and air, the defoamer can spread out over the foam lamella and form a bond with the air inside the foam bubble.
As the defoamer spreads, the foam lamella becomes ever thinner until it ruptures and the air trapped inside the bubble escapes, thus causing the foam to break down.
Defoamers used in aqueous applications consist of multiple components: an active ingredient to perform the actual defoaming process, a carrier to bring it to where it is needed, and an emulsifier to ensure the stability of the active ingredient and the dispersion. Depending on the formulation, the basis of the active substance can be, among other things, vegetable oils, polyols, or an emulsion.
Our partner offers its customers extensive support with applications. You can choose whether you would like to send them a foaming sample of your product, or to have them send defoamer samples to you along with dosage recommendations specific to your application.
Defoamers can be divided into two categories, depending on how they are used. The distinction is whether they are used as processing agents or as food additives. The first sort are used to help the manufacturing process and should not be present in the final product, or only be present in unavoidable residual concentrations.
Regulations for defoamers that are used exclusively as processing agents are relatively relaxed. Defoamers that are used as food additives are added intentionally to the product to influence the properties of the food, often those of the final product itself.
They remain present in the final product and influence its quality, and are regulated relatively strictly compared to processing agents. We are happy to advise you on choosing the right product and the correct declaration.
Münzing Chemie GmbH has developed its MAGRABAR® product line specifically for the food and beverage industry, offering a wide range of processing agents and food additives for all conceivable application areas and product groups. With its headquarters in Abstatt, Germany and production sites in North America, the company has extensive synthesis and formulation capacities to best serve its global customer base.
High protein is trending. For clear drinks, we provide protein hydrolysates with many technical and nutritional benefits.
Lecithin is obtained from the oil fractions of sunflower, soya bean and rapeseed oil and has special physico-chemical properties.
Carolean is a mixture of prickly pear leaves, locust bean gum and xanthan gum and increases viscosity.