(219e) Applications of Flowscan™ Non-Invasive Rheological Measurement of Foods and Personal Care Products

Maintaining strict rheological parameters in the manufacture of liquid foods and personal care products is essential for ensuring product quality, manufacturing efficiencies, acceptance testing and consistent process control. Adequately controlling rheological properties in batch or continuous processes with manual testing methods can be challenging due to slow feedback loops related to the extraction, preparation and measurement of samples. Moreover, rheological properties can change during sample handling and storage, thereby affecting the final results. In sensitive processes, the lack of tight rheological control can  result in high variability in product, excessive use of ingredients, wastage, and product rejections.  Automated non-invasive rheology measurements of in-line product flows, on the other hand, provide real-time quantification of process conditions, which simplifies process monitoring, process control and detection of anomalies. Early detection of a process deviation can result in significant savings of time, materials and overall costs. To demonstrate these capabilities, we used the FlowScan™ real-time rheology system (Aspect Imaging) in a pipe flow system with 30 liter capacity to dynamically monitor the rheology of various personal care products as well as dairy products undergoing rapid rheological changes. The capabilities of FlowScan to measure other properties of these liquids in addition to rheology are discussed.