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The intrinsic microbial stability of water-in-oil emulsions

I. Theory

  • Biotechnology
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European journal of applied microbiology and biotechnology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

In many cases, water-in-oil emulsions appear to be microbiologically more stable against the growth of non-lipolytic microorganisms than the isolated water phase itself. The two main reasons for this intrinsic stability are that only a small fraction of the droplets of the emulsion is occupied by microorganisms originating from the water phase and that the size of these droplets limits the outgrowth of microorganisms. It is possible to give a quantitative description of the intrinsic stability of a water-in-oil emulsion, using the yield coefficient of different microorganisms grown in different media and the size-distribution of the water droplets in the emulsion. Relationships are given between the amount and nature of growth compounds in a water droplet of an emulsion and the growth and fate of microorganisms as a function of storage time.

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The second part of this article has already been published in Volume 10, August 1980, pp. 73–85

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Verrips, C.T., Zaalberg, J. The intrinsic microbial stability of water-in-oil emulsions. European J. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 10, 187–196 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00508606

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00508606

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