In the production and transportation of powdered food, easy agglomeration is a problem that plagues the entire industry. Especially in milk powder and other brewed foods, affected by factors such as transportation and storage environment, the lactose, protein and other ingredients contained in it are easy to condense with moisture and cause agglomeration and moisture. Therefore, in order to avoid this problem, food manufacturers often add anticaking agents.
Anti-caking agent, also known as anti-caking agent, is a food additive used to prevent granular or powdered food from agglomerating and agglomerating, and to maintain its loose or fluid state. The anti-caking agent has fine particles, loose and porous, strong adsorption, easy to absorb moisture, grease, etc. that cause agglomeration, so that the food can remain in powder or granular state. At present, the anti-caking agents allowed in our country are potassium ferrocyanide, sodium aluminosilicate, tricalcium phosphate, silicon dioxide and microcrystalline cellulose.
As one of the four food anticaking agents allowed in my country, fumed silica is non-toxic, odorless, non-polluting, chemically inert, and has unique structure and function. It has been widely used in the food and powder industries.
In the powder system, fumed silica acts as an anti-caking mechanism:
1. Have a larger specific surface area.
Due to the small particle size of fumed silica, its specific surface area is very large. Usually, the specific surface of fumed silica is 100-400m2/g. This feature enables it to wrap on the surface of the powder material and act as a spacer between the powder particles, thereby preventing adhesion and promoting the free flow of the powder.
2. Has a strong adsorption performance.
The small particle size and large specific surface area of fumed silica can also make it have good adsorption performance, promote it to absorb grease and moisture on the surface of the powder, thereby reducing the adhesion between the powders.
3. Small particle size and high surface energy.
In the powder system, the small particle size and high surface energy of white carbon black enable them to be adsorbed on the surface of the powder particles, thereby forming a surface layer on the surface, improving the fluidity of the powder, and greatly improving the production and transportation process of the powder system. In the efficiency. At the same time, fumed silica can also be used as a dispersant in systems such as environmentally friendly high-solid paints and powder coatings.
The application industry of fumed silica as an anti-caking agent:
Food: milk powder, instant coffee, powdered sugar, condiments…
Agriculture: pesticides, feed….
Industry: powder coating, toner…
Medicine: Powder medicine….