
Bruker Corporation has launched the minispec Droplet Size Analyzer 2.0 in its minispec nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) portfolio. Based on time domain (TD)-NMR technology, this latest launch offers a fast, accurate and non-invasive method to support texture and stability analysis in food and cosmetics applications. The new solution features a new user interface, GoScanTM for minispec, which provides multimodal droplet size distribution characterisation, and further improves the results for unimodal distributions where a lognormal shape is assumed.
GoScan for minispec offers user-friendly data acquisition and processing, and a straightforward evaluation of lognormal and multimodal distribution results. It provides easy experiment setup, intuitive real-time data acquisition, and improved data analysis. In the quality control (QC) mode, pre-defined acquisition parameters are provided for routine experiments and in the R&D mode the user can further optimise the acquisition parameters.
The minispec Droplet Size Analyzer 2.0 offers improved droplet size distribution analysis in food matrices, giving manufacturers important information about the shelf life and textural properties of their products. New parameters have been added for emulsions with unimodal distribution where a lognormal distribution is assumed. In the new multimodal fitting, a regularisation technique is employed without assuming any shape for the distribution.
Joost Coudron, laboratory project leader at Vandemoortele, added: “The new software of Bruker for the analysis of droplet size distribution makes it possible not only to calculate a log-normal monomodal distribution but also to make a multimodal fitting of the data. At Vandemoortele, we see from time to time, for some of our recipes, that the lognormal assumption for the droplet size distribution is not always the best solution, that the data don’t fit well with a monomodal distribution. With the GoScan software, this is not the case anymore. The software has the ability to recalculate the data for a multimodal distribution. This is a real advantage.”
Omeet Shah, senior scientist at Kraft Heinz company, commented: “The fat and water droplet size distributions represent the fat holding capacity of proteins and the water holding capacity of carbohydrates in food matrices; they need to be appropriately controlled to achieve desired food texture and stability. The new Bruker GoScan software can accurately estimate the droplet size distribution from the TD-NMR decay curve without assuming a particular type of distribution. The enhanced feature of the software enables the evaluation of multimodal distribution that can occur typically in double emulsion systems or due to inconsistency in processing conditions. The Bruker-TD NMR droplet size analyser with GoScan software is an excellent tool for evaluating food emulsions and optimising the processing and formula parameters to achieve consistent emulsion characteristics.”
This latest launch expands the Bruker minispec solutions portfolio, which includes methods for solid fat content (SFC), oil and moisture content, and spin finish analysis.