Patent ID: 8839661

Claim:
A foaminess characterization method comprising: providing a substantially gas bubble-free preliminary mixture comprising a foamable liquid and a test substance; illuminating the substantially gas bubble-free preliminary mixture using a light source in such a way so as to obtain an operatively illuminated preliminary mixture that is substantially gas bubble-free; in a first measuring step, obtaining a first digital image of the operatively illuminated preliminary mixture with a digital camera and quantitatively measuring color of the operatively illuminated preliminary mixture from the first digital image using a microprocessor programmed to provide quantitative color measurements from digital images to give the first quantitative color measurement; removing the light source and mechanically agitating the preliminary mixture under foam-generating conditions so as to generate a test liquid foam; illuminating the test liquid foam using the light source in such a way so as to obtain an operatively illuminated test liquid foam; in a second measuring step, obtaining a second digital image of the operatively illuminated test liquid foam with a digital camera and quantitatively measuring color of the operatively illuminated test liquid foam from the second digital image using the microprocessor programmed to provide quantitative color measurements from digital images to give a second quantitative color measurement, wherein the first and second quantitative color measurements are comparable to each other; calculating a quantitative change as a mathematical function of the first and second quantitative color measurements using the microprocessor; and evaluating defoaming effectiveness of the test substance as the direct quantitative colorimetric function of the degree of foaming of the test liquid foam based on the quantitative change that is the mathematical function of the first and second quantitative color measurements, wherein a smaller absolute value for the quantitative change in color of the test liquid foam indicates a greater degree of defoaming effectiveness of the test substance and a larger absolute value for the quantitative change in color of the test liquid foam indicates a lesser degree of defoaming effectiveness of the test substance.