Magnetic emulsion technology
Emulsions are stable mixtures of two non-mixable liquids, like oil and water. A well-known example is mayonnaise, where up to 80 % of oil is emulsified into barely 20 % of water and water soluble components. The emulsion is created by distributing the oil into very fine droplets in the water phase. M4E's magnetic emulsion technology succeeds in creating these very fine droplets. In order to stabilize these droplets for a longer period of time emulsifiers or stabilizers are added to the mixture. In mayonnaise egg yolk and mustard are used as emulsifiers.
With M4E technology, stable emulsions are obtained by adding the oil phase under controlled conditions to the water phase through an M4E device. During passage through the M4E device, the particles are modulated into the desired sizes by the permanent magnetic field. Emulsions with small droplets and a narrow particle size distribution are obtained.
The more traditional emulsification technologies involve the use of high-shear forces generated through stirring or division of flow at high pressures. Due to this enormous shear, read: friction between oil and water phase, small droplets of one phase into the other are created. These traditional technologies are characterised by an inefficient use of energy, a high cost of use, a sub-optimal emulsion quality and incompatibility with shear-sensitive molecules. M4E's magnetic emulsion technology is a low-shear technology. It is based on a fundamentally different principle and it therefore offers many new perspectives for emulsion manufacture.
The M4E devices contain optimised magnetic fields that create forces acting on the emulsion at micrometer level. These forces lead to disruption of emulsion droplets, creating a fine distribution of one phase into the other. The action at the micrometer length scale instead of at the macroscopic scale in current equipment is at the origin of the excellent efficiency of the magnetic technology. For a more detailed explanation of the working mechanism, we refer to the following publication: "Bernard Stuyven, Chem. Commun., 2009, 47-49".
Cosmetic emulsions and mayonnaise are almost exclusively manufactured by means of high-shear equipment. At this moment, M4E has optimised its technology for these two applications and succeeds perfectly in replacing current equipment. M4E also expects to be able to replace high-shear mixers in other applications.
Clean-in-place magnetic devices were developed together with Cegelec-Ensysta for applications in food, pharma and cosmetics. These M4E CIP devices are made of PEEK polymer (poly ether ether ketone) or stainless steel on the product side of the device. Its design also facilitates clean-in-place use due to low angles and a low surface roughness.
A PEEK emulsion device and a simplified process scheme can be seen on the following figures.
Figure 1: Magnetic emulsion device
Figure 2: simplified process scheme