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Bostwick AnalysisNon-Newtonian products are very common and include polymers, suspensions, and emulsions. Most fluid foods (except beverages) as well as personal care products, home care products and many other industrial products are non-Newtonian in their rheological behavior. Inspection of non-Newtonian fluids is important in industrial applications, to control raw material use and quality. Ketchup is a typical non-Newtonian fluid food. Ketchup has resistance to flow changes, as a function of temperature and shear rate (the speed one layer of ketchup moves in relation to an adjacent layer). The resistance to flow for non-Newtonian fluids cannot be measured in-line or on-line by current rheological sensors. Measurement of non-Newtonian fluid rheological properties is currently accomplished using laboratory based methods. Laboratory methods are slow (results obtained 30 to 60 minutes after sampling), often lack precision/accuracy and are run under environmental conditions different from the process (e.g., temperature, pressure). The results from laboratory methods permit manufacture of inconsistent products and lower yield of final product. Ketchup’s resistance to flow is currently characterized using the Bostwick test. The Bostwick test imitates the use of Ketchup and is a flow measurement. Bostwick tests can only be run in a quality assurance laboratory setting. Using Aspect’s solution, online analysis and monitoring of viscosity can be run continuously on the production line, resulting in efficiency and raw material savings. |
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