Particulate Products: Tailoring Properties for Optimal Performance

There is a great variety of industrial particulate products. Quality and performance of such products as well as their production processing depend upon the characteristics of the particulate ingredients and of product processing. These characteristics should be selected with due care in direct relation to product quality aspects. Measured data should be capable to discriminate between different product qualities, and the measurement quality should be sufficient. The last decades have shown a vast expansion and differentiation of measurement techniques as well as strong improvement of their quality. The design and selection of optimum particle characteristics for a variety of commercial products is the subject of this book. Its goal is to improve future product development. This chapter gives an introduction on product types, relevance of particle characteristics for product performance, schemes and statistical tools for optimum product development and design, and preferred particle characteristics in relation to product quality. H.G. Merkus (*) Retired Associate Professor, Delft University of Technology, Park Berkenoord 30, Pijnacker 2641 CZ, The Netherlands e-mail: henkmerkus@hetnet.nl G.M.H. Meesters DSM Food Specialities, Delft University of Technology, Alexander Fleminglaan 1, 2613 AX Delft 1, Delft 2600 MA, The Netherlands e-mail: gabrie.meesters@DSM.com H.G. Merkus and G.M.H. Meesters (eds.), Particulate Products: Tailoring Properties for Optimal Performance, Particle Technology Series 19, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-00714-4_1, © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014 1 1.1 Objective of This Book Particulate products make up around 80 % of all chemical products. Particle characteristics play an essential role in their quality and performance. The design of such products is the subject of this book. It can be used for improving existing products as well as for designing new products. Often, particulate products are composed of several ingredients. The particulate ingredients are not only solid particles, but they include all entities that have a difference in phase with their surroundings. Thus, products for consideration include dry powder mixtures, suspensions, emulsions and creams (liquid droplets in an immiscible liquid), sprays (droplets in gas) and foams (gas bubbles in a liquid or a solid material), etc. The other ingredients in the final products serve goals related to consistency, stability, taste, smell, etc. Themain objective of this book is to guide optimumdesign of particle characteristics of particulate ingredients in commercial products in relation to the required performance characteristics, both during processing and for the final product. Such designs start with good identification of the various performance aspects and understanding of their relationships with particle characteristics, viz. particle size distributions (PSD), particle shape, porosity and/or zeta-potential. The choice of optimum characteristic parameters requires such knowledge, in relation to desired performance tasks as well as for adequate specifications of both ingredients and products. Since very little seems to be published on the basic parameter choices to be made for particulate products, we asked various experts to write a chapter on this subject for a variety of important particulate products. We trust that their views will provide the available insight in the different, essential characteristics of composed particulate products. Their texts clearly show the different approaches taken in different product areas. This may lead to better understanding of the challenges in all product fields. A further requirement for good product quality is that the particle parameters can be measured with sufficient precision, sensitivity and resolution. In addition to the information given for the products, a separate Chap. 3 deals with some major techniques for measurement of the parameters. It includes the quality of sampling, dispersion and measurement. In the next sections of this introductory chapter, the relevance of particle characteristics for product behavior and methods for product design and development are illustrated. 1.2 Relevance of Particle Characteristics for Product Quality Product quality can be identified in different ways. A simple definition is “Conformance to product specifications”. Such specifications, however, are far from always sufficient to cover all performance aspects. Also, broader definitions have been formulated, which can be combined in: “The totality of features and characteristics of a product that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied expectations, needs and requirements of 2 H.G. Merkus and G.M.H. Meesters