Issue 20, 2017, Issue in Progress

Sequential crystallization of high and low melting waxes to improve oil structuring in wax-based oleogels

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of combining a high-melting wax (sunflower wax or rice bran wax) with a low-melting wax (berry wax or BEW) on the crystallization and gelation behavior of the corresponding wax-based oleogels in rice bran oil (RBO). Sunflower wax (SW) and rice bran wax (RBW) have a similar chemical composition but a very different crystallization behavior. Therefore, SW and RBW were also combined in a wax-based oleogel to examine the occurrence of co-crystallization and/or crystal co-existence. The thermal and gelation behavior of the binary blends in rice bran oil (5% w/w total concentration of wax) were investigated with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and rheological measurements, showing sequential crystallization and gelation for the SW/RBW : BEW wax-based oleogels and simultaneous crystallization and gelation for the SW : RBW wax-based oleogels. Oscillatory shear and hardness measurements revealed the reinforcement of the high-melting wax crystal network with the addition of the low-melting berry wax. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements in both the long-spacing and the short-spacing region showed the occurrence of crystal co-existence, rather than co-crystallization, which was confirmed with polarized light microscopy (PLM). Two different crystal morphologies could be discerned for all three combinations (RBW : SW, SW : BEW and RBW : BEW). We hypothesized that the improved rheological properties could be attributed to sintering, a process in which the low-melting BEW crystals form solid bonds between the crystals of the high-melting waxes. As such, a cohesive network is formed, resulting in an increased hardness of the bi-wax-based oleogels. This research provides the opportunity to minimize the amount of wax necessary in creating semi-solid materials with a wide variety in rheological and textural properties.

Graphical abstract: Sequential crystallization of high and low melting waxes to improve oil structuring in wax-based oleogels

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
01 Dec 2016
Accepted
13 Feb 2017
First published
21 Feb 2017
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2017,7, 12113-12125

Sequential crystallization of high and low melting waxes to improve oil structuring in wax-based oleogels

I. Tavernier, C. D. Doan, D. Van de Walle, S. Danthine, T. Rimaux and K. Dewettinck, RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 12113 DOI: 10.1039/C6RA27650D

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