Lipid Structural Properties
Dr Ian Norton
Chief Scientist
Unilever – An introduction
“Meeting everyday needs
of people everywhere”
Research within Unilever provides our core
business with competitive advantage from
Science and Technology.
R&D in Unilever
R&D Expenditure 2000: £723 million (approx. 2.5% of turnover;
10% is used for Corporate development).
central research laboratory
innovation centre
Role of Research
Build and adapt science and technology for business needs
Translate business and consumer needs into science and
technology challenges.
Develop regulatory, safety and environmental management
processes and procedures.
Collaborate with external partners and develop professional
networks to ensures that Unilever benefits from new ideas and
techniques in science and technology wherever they occur.
Recruit and train high quality technical staff for the
business.
Colworth R&D
Colworth R&D Main Activities
- Research Centre for:
- Ice Cream, Tea, Frozen Foods
- The Safety Centre for Unilever
- Corporate Visionary Projects
- Underpinning Science:
- Consumer Science
- Health & Nutrition
- Biotechnology (Plants, Human cell biology etc)
- Process Science
- Colloid Science
- Material Science
- Measurement Science
Margarine and Low Fat Spreads
EMs of Low fat Spreads
• Crystal networks
• Crystal Shells (Sintered crystals
at the oil/water interface.
• Crystal melting to impart
flavour release and mouthfeel.
From fundamental science to products
on the supermarket shelves.
Manipulation of crystal structures
EM of Palm Oil Spherulites Taken from Filter
Cake Following Dry Fractionation
Without (left) and with (right) 0.2% membrane lipids
Note change in regularity and density of spherulites
Work carried out by Paul Smith (now at Surface Chemistry Institute, Sweden) while at Colworth.
Edible Barrier
10mm
Control of crystal
morphology yields flat
crystals in Cotebar S,
similar to beeswax or
paraffin wax.This leads
to a greater tortuosity
than other fats and
creates a better
moisture barrier.
From fundamental
science to industrial
products.
(Cotebar® S )
Interests in Lipid structuring
• Crystallisation Kinetics (nucleation, secondary
nucleation, growth, models etc)
• Re-crystallisation (control, role of solubility terms etc)
• Fractionation
• Network formation, stability and melting
• Lipid interchangeability
• Conceptual and mathematical models
Examples of Unilever Products
“For a fast
moving consumer
goods company
like Unilever,
the implications
of rapid
progress (in
research) are
especially
profound”.
Niall Fitzgerald
(Unilever Chairman).