Mixed biopolymer aqueous solutions – phase behaviour and rheology

Mixed biopolymer solutions are found in many food systems and household products, and are also employed in industrial processes such as bio-separation and purification. They display a rich phase behaviour, ranging from association and precipitation to the more common segregative phase separation into two liquid phases. Understanding the underlying physics of their phase behaviour and of the rheology-morphology relationships of the resulting phases is a topic of interest and importance in terms of being able to reliably design and produce products containing mixed biopolymer solutions and predicting their behaviour. The science of mixed biopolymer solutions is complicated by the fact that they are ternary systems, typically comprising mostly water, and that the biopolymers themselves are liable to structural transitions such as gelation. Both of these factors can play an important role in the phase behaviour of the mixtures, and the morphology of the resulting phases. In the following, an introduction is given to the physics of mixed biopolymer solutions and the behaviour of their phases, with a view to highlighting the unique aspects of such materials in comparison to other liquid-liquid mixtures, such as emulsions and polymer blends, and also the more interesting topics for future research in these fascinating materials.