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posted by martyb on Sunday May 31 2020, @07:25PM   Printer-friendly
from the Scoop!-There-it-is! dept.

Cornell professor of food science engineering Syed Rizvi and Michael E. Wagner, Ph.D. have received a patent on a process for producing Ice Cream instantly (within 3 seconds).

In the traditional method of making ice cream, the dairy-based mix flows through a heat-exchanging barrel, where ice crystals form and get scraped by blades.

With this new method, highly pressurized carbon dioxide passes over a nozzle that, in turn, creates a vacuum to draw in the liquid ice cream. When carbon dioxide goes from a high pressure to a lower pressure, it cools the mixture to about minus 70 degrees C – freezing the mixture into ice cream, which jets out of another nozzle into a bowl, ready to eat.

Instant ice cream can be served right on the spot, all without the challenges of commercial transportation “cold chains,” in which the product must be frozen and maintained at minus 20 degrees Celsius. To guard against failing spots in the cold-temperature transportation chain, commercial ice cream makers add stabilizers and emulsifiers.

The cold chain is energy intensive, making the new process desirable from an energy and cost perspective, as well as reducing undesirable additives.

Cornell is currently exploring licensing opportunities.

The patent "Process and apparatus for rapid freezing of consumable and non-consumable products using the expansion of dense gas " is available on-line.


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by captain normal on Sunday May 31 2020, @10:06PM (2 children)

    by captain normal (2205) on Sunday May 31 2020, @10:06PM (#1001514)

    All you need is a fairly large pressurized vessel of carbon dioxide, containers for various ice cream mixes, a bunch of valves and sensors etc, etc...Somehow I don't think it's going to fit the average home kitchen. This looks like something that might work in a commercial setting, if you can figure out how to sell instant ice cream.

    You can cool stuff with compressed CO2. I learned this on the east coast of Baja years ago. It was a very hot day, we had lots of cerveza on the boat but were out of ice were tired of drinking warm beer. One of the crew went below and came up with one of the fire extinguishers. He stacked some bottles of beer in a bucket and sprayed it with the extinguisher...instant cold beer.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @04:00PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @04:00PM (#1001739)

    One of the crew went below and came up with one of the fire extinguishers. He stacked some bottles of beer in a bucket and sprayed it with the extinguisher...instant cold beer.

    That sounds really cool (haa... haa...), but it also seems really silly and reckless.

    In the minimum, fire extinguishers are not cheap. A consumer one for home use is some $40, and I'm not sure if there is a special one needed for a boat. That seems like a lot to pay for some cold beer.

    That's not even considering the danger of if there is a fire, suddenly reduced resources to fight it. Admittedly it is very rare to have a fire, but it is a risk.

    How much did you pay for this trip? Was this one of those "charge tourists a lot, and cater to their every whim" type things?

    • (Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday June 02 2020, @02:12AM

      by anubi (2828) on Tuesday June 02 2020, @02:12AM (#1001995) Journal

      I pay about $20 to refill my 20 pound ( of liquid CO2 ) jug that runs my homemade beverage carbonator.

      Although one jug lasts me about a year, I can go through that jug in minutes if I vent the CO2 as a refrigerant.

      Remember those frosty mug coolers and how fast they used those expensive little seltzer water cartridges? Or those really lossy sodapop makers and how fast they used CO2. That was why I built my own carbonator. Those things advertised on TV have really expensive consumables.

      Incidentally, I think "Mini Melts" and "Dipping Dots" are also cryogenic ice cream. Patented in 1992 or so?

      Releasing large quantities of CO2 in confined areas is not a good idea. Air is already about 4/5 nitrogen already.

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