Dr.-Ing. Nico Leister
- group:
Verkapselung und Mikrofluidik
- room: 403
- phone: +49 721 608 42196
- fax: +49 721 608 45967
- nico leister ∂does-not-exist.kit edu
Postanschrift: Kaiserstr. 12
Liefer- und Besucheranschrift: Gotthard-Franz-Straße 3
Geb. 50.31, 4. OG
D-76131 Karlsruhe
About myself
During my studies of chemical engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, I dealt with various aspects of chemical processes, measurement methods and food functionality. I completed my master studies with a thesis on the topic of “process-related material properties of protein-starch systems“. At the end of 2017, I started my doctoral studies as part of my work as a research assistant in the Food Process Engineering group.
Research focus
My research focuses on the characterization and stabilization of water in oil in water (W/O/W) double emulsions. One big challenge is to describe instability mechanisms causing the loss of the inner water phase, such as coalescence and diffusion. Those effects depend strongly on the formulation of the emulsions. For this purpose, the interactions between lipophilic and hydrophilic emulsifiers at W/O and O/W interfaces and their influence on the stability are measured.
Methods
The double emulsions are prepared in a two-step-process. Therefore, I use different emulsification techniques (e.g. Rotor-Stator-Systems, High-Pressure-Emulsification and Membrane-Emulsification). To characterize the double emulsions’ structural and functional properties, I mainly use laser diffraction and microsopy. In addition, I investigate the interfacial properties and rheological behavior of double emulsions. Furthermore, I observe coalescence and diffusion processes with a high-speed camera on single droplets in double emulsions.