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Abstract

The present invention relates to a process of compacting a microporous fat powder, notably a microporous fat powder that can suitably be used as an oil structuring agent. One aspect of the invention relates to a process for compacting a microporous fat powder, said process comprising: feeding the fat powder into the feed zone of an extruder having a forwarding screw and a barrel within which said screw is centrally positioned; rotating said forwarding screw to advance said fat powder feed through a compacting zone of the extruder where the barrel comprises a plurality of venting openings having a shorter dimension that exceeds the volume weighted average diameter of the fat powder feed and that is less than 10 mm; and expelling the compacted fat powder from the extruder; wherein the temperature of the fat powder during passage through the extruder is maintained below 40° C. and wherein the compaction factor achieved exceeds 1.5 Another aspect of the invention relates to a compacted microporous fat powder having the following characteristics: a freely settled density in the range of 90-600 g/l; a particle size distribution with at least 90 vol. % of the particles having a diameter in the range of 20 to 600 μm; a maximum G′_i/G′_d ratio of more than 2.0, wherein G′ represents the elastic modulus at 10 C of a dispersion of 2 wt. % of the compacted fat powder in glycerol, and wherein the maximum ratio is determined by recording G′_i whilst increasing the frequency from 0.1 to 15 s⁻¹, by subsequently recording G′_d whilst decreasing said frequency from 15 to 0.1 s⁻¹, and by calculating the ratio G′_i/G′_d at the frequency at which said ratio is highest.

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First Claim