The tangential microfiltration is compared with high pressure homogenization of the sweetened milk bases designed to be foamed as topping (chantilly cream, i.e.). The homogenization is known as being efficient for the refining of preemulsions, by producing a very important shear, unfortunately accompanied by an important heating. By the contrary, the microfiltration emulsification gives only a mild shear, with no noticeable heating. The emulsions have been foamed in a profiled rotorstator device. The influence of membrane pores diameter, the flows of continuous and dispersed phases, the stabilizer type on the emulsification process has been studied. The results lead to the conclusion that membrane emulsification is a viable alternative to the classic foaming processes.
