Professor |Chair of Food Process Engineering Technische Universität Berlin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Abstract: In this contribution the mechanistic interpretation of the polymorphic transition process of fats will be discussed. To do so experimental data and existing process models will be reviewed. The presence of multiple coexisting solid phases goes beyond the one given by the transition between different polymorphic forms of the same composition. To account for this the current mechanistic models appear to fall short and hence do not represent observations properly. In formulating a new approach, the underlying microscopical processes need to be considered: nucleation of different mixed solid phases, competitive growth, depletion of the liquid phase, mass and heat transfer. The mechanistic interpretation formulated in this contribution caters for the different observations. Even though, the framework is also converted into a modelling approach no results of modelling will be presented yet.
