Highly Functional Weighting Agent By Green Modification of Natural Fibers to Stabilize Flavored Oils in Beverages

Oil weighting agents are needed to stabilize oils in flavored beverages such as soft drinks butcurrent options are limited heavily regulated and even banned in many countries.Howeverdespite their need there are no natural weighting agents in the marketplace today.Meanwhilethe global demand for "clean label" "natural " and "organic" ingredients continues to rapidlygrow.The objective of this project is to make a natural weighting agent ingredient producedusing sustainable manufacturing practices to stabilize beverage emulsions.By using thermal- mechanical and "green" technology to enhance the surface activity zeta potential andamphiphilicity a plant fiber based ingredient sourced from citrus and/or the sugar beet industrywill be used to provide oil stabilization.An additional benefit is that the ingredients can besourced with organic certification and even provide cost savings opportunities versus currentweighting agents.Phase I tests indicated positive findings and feasibility of accomplishing theproject objectives. For Phase II scale up tests structure-function analyses and applicationdevelopment are proposed along with collaborations with the University of Minnesota andUSDA-ARS. Based on the positive findings thus far and industry support the anticipated resultis a surface-active weighting agent with large commercial potential that can be commercializedduring Phase III. Fiberstar Inc. is a small company without access to research funds for newproduct development; therefore SBIR grant funding is critical to further develop the proposedconcepts.