Concept Design of a chewing gum that does not foul the streets
Chemical Product Design and Engineering (CPD&E)
Chemical Product Design & Development - V (CPD&E - 5)
Keywords: non-fouling, chewing gum, product, design, concept
Authors and affiliations:
N. Nikolic 1, S, van Pelt 1, H. Webers 1, G.J. Harmsen 2
1 Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
2 Presenter, RijksUniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands
About 50 % of all spend chewing gum ends up on public pavements. Present chewing gum, based on polypropylene, a very stable material, stays there for 25 years, unless it is removed by cleaning. Cleaning of this sticky insoluble material is a costly affair and therefore it is desirable to find a different gum, which does not foul streets.
A group of students under my supervision undertook a 3 months long project to design a chewing gum that does not foul streets and is also for appearance, taste, health and price reasons attractive to consumers.
The final product designed consists of the following elements:
a) The gum. This is a polyvinyl alcohol/polyvinyl acetate block co-polymer with specified degree of polymerisation and no syndiotacticity, with glycerine as plasticizer to obtain the rubbery state and calcium carbonate filler for hardness. The polymer of choice is such that it slowly hydrolyses in the mouth after 15 minutes, into water solubles, causing no turbidity. The resulting monomers can be swallowed. If the chewing is still dropped onto the pavement it can be quickly removed by warm water of 37 C. If it is left untouched it will hydrolyse in a matter of days to weeks, depending on rainfall. The resulting water-soluble monomers will biodegrade in the sewage system.
b) Taste ingredients at the outside. Xylitol and sorbitol are placed at the outside of the gum as a powder to give instant taste and due to the endothermic hydration reaction with water, a cool feel.
c) Taste ingredient inside the gum. Microglobuls made by emulsifier Lecithin contain a mixture of flavours: xylitol (syrup), sorbitol (syrup) and L-menthol. Xanthan gum is added for a slow release of the taste components.
c) Colouring ingredient. Titanium- di-oxide is added for a white appearance
d) Antioxidants: Butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene are added to obtain a shelf life of 12 months.
The production of the product has also been designed. It appears that the whole production can be done with conventional chewing gum equipment. An overall assessment of Safety, Health, Life Cycle Environmental, Economics and Market acceptance has been made. The assessment showed that the new product scores positive on all aspects, except for health. It appeared that FDA approval for the polyvinyl alcohol for this use is not available yet, so has to be pursued. Polyvinyl alcohols are already used in medical applications so a positive outcome is expected.
The final packaged product is as a classic package of 12 tablets that can be sold profitably for the price of 50 Eurocents to retailers.
The product design followed the method developed by my PhD student Korevaar and contained the following major phases: problem definition phase, materials phase, integrated product concept phase and detailed design phase. The latter includes target specifications, marketing analysis, technical feasibility, Safety, health, environment, and economic feasibility. For each phase the Korevaar method provides a few guidelines.
The resulting design is a first concept design. It is entirely based on publicly available information, for which more than 100 references where consulted. It will need experimental work to validate the theoretical calculations of all properties. It also needs FDA approval. Most importantly it will also need consumer acceptance, so pilot market studies will be needed. As the product can be made in existing chewing gum equipment these pilot studies can be relatively easy carried out.
Presented Thursday 20, 14:40 to 15:00, in session Chemical Product Design & Development - V (CPD&E - 5).
