Influence of Salt Concentrations on the Stabilities and Properties of Sodium Caseinate Stabilized Oil-in-Water Emulsions

The influence of salt concentration on the stability of sodium caseinate (CAS)-stabilized emulsions (20 wt% corn oil, 3.2 wt% CAS, 5 mM imidazole/acetate buffer, pH 7) was examined. In the absence of salt, laser diffraction measurements and optical microscopy measurements indicated there were some large oil droplets ($d>10\;{\mu}m$) in the emulsions stabilized by 0.8 to 3.2 wt% of CAS. The droplet aggregation (mostly droplet coalescence) observed in the emulsions containing ${\leq}2.8\;wt%$ CAS tended to decrease as the CAS concentration increased, however, after which concentration (at 3.2 wt% CAS) depletion flocculation occurred. The addition of $CaCl_2$ (5-20 mM) into the emulsions stabilized by 3.2 wt% CAS prevented the depletion flocculation although there was a small fraction of relatively large individual droplets in the emulsions, which was attributed to electrostatic screening effect and bridging effect of calcium ion. This study has shown that calcium ion that has been reputed to promote droplet aggregation could improve emulsion stability against droplet aggregation in CAS-stabilized emulsions.