High Internal Phase Emulsion for Food-Grade 3D Printing Materials

Abstract

Three-dimensional printing (3DP) has attracted significant attention for its use in additive manufacturing techniques because it provides customizability and flexibility for fabricating structures with arbitrary shapes. Certain applications in the food and medicine industries require 3D printable materials that are both biocompatible and biodegradable. Consequently, this study reports 3D printable materials constructed from food-grade high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs). The studied HIPEs (phase ratio 85%) were stabilized by the efficient adsorption behavior of cod proteins (concentration range, 10−50 mg mL −1 ) at the oil− water interface. The stability of the oil-in-water HIPEs was improved by the formation of a concentration-dependent percentage of adsorbed proteins and cross-linking networks, and homogeneous and self-supporting structures were generated after 7 days of storage at 4 °C. The gel-like shear thinning rheological behavior induced by the cross-linking networks in the studied HIPEs can be tuned to obtain the desired printability and extrudability during 3DP. In the present study, the HIPEs stabilized with 50 mg mL −1 of cod proteins exhibited the highest printing resolution, gel strength, hardness, adhesiveness, and chewiness during 3DP. These food-grade HIPE inks have the potential to diversify the applications of 3DP in foods, cosmetics, drug delivery systems, and packaging materials.

Application of Advanced Emulsion Technology in the Food Industry: A Review and Critical Evaluation

“…HIPEs have also been developed for application in semisolid condiments, such as mayonnaise and salad dressing [74,75]. HIPEs stabilized by cod proteins (ϕ = 85%) have been utilized as food-grade 3D printing materials due to their high gel strength, hardness, adhesiveness, and chewiness [76]. HIPEs have also been used as delivery systems for improving the stability and bioaccessibility of hydrophobic bioactive compounds due to their relatively high oil content.…”

Jammed Emulsions with Adhesive Pea Protein Particles for Elastoplastic Edible 3D Printed Materials

“…[2,3] The challenge is to create a material that flows when stress is applied to pass through the nozzle, while it behaves as solid at rest to hold the printed structure. [4] Materials with such rheological properties are known as plastic or yield stress materials.…”

Fabrication and characterization of superior stable Pickering emulsions stabilized by propylene glycol alginate gliadin nanoparticles

“…The apparent viscosity of the emulsions stabilized GPPs 1 : 1 decreased by several orders of magnitude, which facilitate extrusion and injection during 3D printing. In addition, the total solid content of the GPPs 1 : 1 stabilized emulsion was relatively low (0.4%, based on emulsion mass) compared with other high internal phase Pickering emulsions, 38 which further demonstrated their printability. More importantly, the stabilizer used in this study were prepared with all food-grade components, which have great potential for preparing 3D printing foods.…”