Modeling the Dissolution Dynamic of Milk Protein Concentrate Via In-Situ Measurement

In both the food and pharmaceutical industries, the solubility of powder is the property of most interests. This is due to its importance in product development, formulation and quality control. Powders with poor solubility potentially prolong production time and affect the end product's functionality. An understanding of powder solubility, especially the dynamic solubility can provide insights into the powder dissolution mechanism. In this study, milk protein concentrate (MPC) was subjected to different storage and dissolution conditions, and its solubility measured using focused beam reflectance measurement (FBRM), in order to establish the respective dissolution profiles of MPC. A modified mathematical model from Noyes-Whitney equation has been applied to the data obtained from FBRM, where two key parameters were identified: the dissolution rate constant k and the equilibrium particle size d��. The dissolution rate constant k related to the de-agglomeration of large particles, whereas d�� influenced by the release of casein micelles from primary particles. A modeling and experiment integration protocol was established to enable reliable and easy investigation of different powder functionality. Using the established measurement protocol, different types of powders with different treatments (e.g. storage/testing) can be analyzed to identify the relevant parameters for powder processing, categorization and benchmarking.