Crosslinking Kinetics of Cation-Hydrocolloid Gels

MAMMARELLA, ENRIQUE; RUBIOLO, AMELIA

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL

Elsevier Science B.V.

Lugar: Shannon, Irlanda; Año: 2003 vol. 94 p. 73 - 77

1385-8947

The gel formation of hydrocolloid (sodium alginate and kappa-carrageenan) is the result of the molecule aggregation in presence of an effective cation. The gelling process was considered as a process of diffusion-reaction between the effective cation and the hydrocolloid to produce a porous solid structure. A simple mathematical model for predicting the reaction interface position in alginate or alginate-carrageenan gelation was developed. The model represents appropriately the physicochemical phenomenon and allows determining the time for complete crosslinking of the hydrocolloid and the amount of incorporated ions.