The dissolution behavior of individual powder particles

The formation of lumps is a common problem during powder reconstitution in food industry. If more knowledge regarding the phenomena controlling the process could be obtained, the process of industrial powder recombination could be optimized. This demands investigation of the process at three different levels: the scale of individual powder particles, the scale of powder beds, and the scale of industrial recombination. If knowledge from all three scales could be combined, a model of the entire process could be constructed. In this study, we present a new flow-cell-based method for investigating the dissolution rate of individual powder particles in controlled liquid flow. The flow cell allows for alteration of the flow velocity and only subjects the investigated powder particles to mild stress before the analysis. The dissolution process in the cell is recorded, and data are obtained by image analysis. Sodium caseinate has been used as a model substance in these experiments. The results show that the particle dissolution rate is a function of the flow velocity of the liquid, and the results correspond to earlier established methods. The investigation of individual particles shows a variation in dissolution rate between particles resulting from the diverse particle morphology from an industrial batch of powder. The results indicate that the dissolution interface concentration of dissolving sodium caseinate particles corresponds well to the overlap concentration of the specie.