Shear Nanostructuring of Monoglyceride Organogels

The aim of the present research was to study the effect of shear on the crystallization behavior of monoglyceride organogels. To this end, organogels were prepared by mixing cod liver oil and saturated monoglycerides at 80A degrees C and then crystallizing them at 20A degrees C under shear rates ranging from 0 to 2,000 s(-1). The organogels were characterized using polarized light microscopy, Cryo-SEM, and X-ray diffraction. The rheological properties and the oil binding capacity of the different systems were also evaluated. Results obtained in this study showed that the introduction of shear during organogel formation greatly affects structure at the nano, micro, and macro levels. Solidification of the organogel under static conditions led to the formation of a strong gel network, with a high oil binding capacity. On the contrary, shear processing during crystallization led to the formation of a weak gel network with a low oil binding capacity.