Foam properties of proteins, low molecular weight surfactants and their complexes

This thesis shows the effects that the addition of low molecular weight surfactants (LWMS) to proteins has on the foam stability of the mixture. For this, the bulk, interfacial, thin liquid films and foam properties are determined for different protein-LWMS mixtures at different molar ratios (MR). It was shown that the MR as well as the charge of the protein and LMWS determine the foam stability of the mixtures. For all mixtures it was found that the proteins have a select number of high affinity binding sites. So, the concentration of free LMWS in the solution is 0 until a critical MR (MRcr), at which all high affinity binding sites are saturated. Above this MRcr, part of the LMWS binds to low affinity binding sites of the proteins. The low affinity binding sites have a binding ratio < 1, which determines the concentration of bound and free LMWS. For similarly charged protein-LMWS mixtures (i.e. b-lactoglobulin (BLG) and sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) and SDS at pH 7) the foam stability typically decreases from the foam stability of the pure protein solution (MR 0) until MRcr is reached. At MR > MRcr the foam stability is dominated by the amount of free LMWS. For oppositely charged protein-LMWS mixtures, the binding of the LMWS to the proteins can be described in a similar way, although the number of high affinity sites and low affinity binding ratio are different. There is also a regime of MRs in which the protein-LMWS complexes form large aggregates. These aggregates were in some cases found to increase foam stability (lysozyme (LYS) and SDS and BLG-SDS at pH 3), while in another case (BLG and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)) they lead to decreased foam stability. Still, in all cases it was found that above MRD the aggregates dissociate and the foam stability becomes dominated by free surfactants, equivalent to what was observed for similarly charged protein-LMWS mixtures. A multi-scale model was developed to describe the stability of thin liquid films in terms of rupture time and thickness. Initially, the model was used to predict the stability of surfactant free films of water and electrolyte solutions. Later, it was used to predict the foam stability in LYS-SDS mixtures. For that purpose, the model was combined with a foam drainage model to provide theoretical estimations of foam stability. This model is the basis to understand coalescence of bubbles in foam. Finally, the concept of the critical MRs and the free LMWS was introduced. Using this, the foam properties of protein-LMWS mixtures can partly be predicted by relative charge of the components and the binding to both high and low affinity binding sites.