Flow behaviors of high acyl gellan aqueous solutions as affected by temperature, and calcium and gellan concentrations

Rheological behaviors of high acyl (HA) gellan are not well understood partially because of its relatively late commercialization compared to low acyl gellan. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of temperature (5-30deg;C), calcium (0, 1 and 10 mM) and gellan concentrations (0.0044-0.1000% w/v) on the flow behaviors of high acyl gellan aqueous solutions using rheological tests. Gellan solutions with 0 or 1 mM added Ca++ exhibited shear thinning behavior at gellan concentrations above 0.0125%. The influence of temperature on apparent viscosity (shear rate, 100 s-1) of gellan solutions can be described with an Arrhenius relationship. The apparent viscosity of gellan solution at low concentrations was more sensitive to temperature changes. The addition of Ca++ led to a decrease in flow resistance for a dilute gellan solution (<0.0125%), but an increased resistance for a relatively concentrated gellan solution (>0.0125%).