Production of CO2 clathrate hydrate frozen desserts by flash freezing

CO₂ clathrate hydrate is a crystalline water–carbon dioxide structure that can enable novel, strongly carbonated frozen desserts. A CO₂ flash-freezing process has been developed to form CO₂ hydrates during freezing of a dessert mixture. In the process, liquid CO₂ and liquid dessert mixture are emulsified and then sprayed into a chamber in which the CO₂ flashes to a vapor causing the dessert mixture to freeze into a low-density powder. To ensure CO₂ hydrate formation it is important to avoid ice formation because ice to CO₂ hydrate conversion proceeds too slowly to occur during flash freezing. To avoid ice formation it is important to flash the emulsion to a pressure greater than 4.7 bars and disperse the mixture in fine droplets. In this work the key parameters of the process are described, which will enable development of commercial dispensers.