Avaliação de blendas poliméricas na microencapsulação de óleo essencial de laranja doce

Abstract

The spray drying method is widely used in the food industry to protect bioactive compounds, assisting in the preservation of their properties and facilitating their application. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the combination of different polymer blends in the encapsulation of sweet orange essential oil and the characteristics of the microparticles stabilized with the spray drying technique, using gum arabic, maltodextrin and cellulose nanofibrils as encapsulating agents. The mixtures of encapsulants were evaluated for their efficiency and physical properties, using a completely randomized design with three repetitions. There was influence of the partial replacement of gum arabic by maltodextrin, and the addition of cellulose nanofibrils in retaining volatiles and characteristics of the microparticles containing the essential oil produced by spray drying. The results in the first article showed that the blends containing cellulose nanofibrils had better results for retaining volatiles, with an increase of 18.18% compared to blends without cellulose, as well as for kinetic release in both studied temperatures 25°C and 45°C, with higher initial and final release (25 and 54%) respectively. The second article showed that the presence of cellulose nanofibrils provided a reduction of equilibrium moisture of the microparticles in the intermediate values of water activity and improved thermal stability of the powder during the third stage of degradation, with less weight loss (54 %) at a temperature range of 290°C to 335°C when compared to blends without their addition, which showed weight loss (60%) at a temperature range of 270°C to 315°C in. These results show relevant information to enable further studies on the development of polymer blends comprising cellulose nanofibrils as a secondary material when combined with other carbohydrate polymers, such as gum arabic and maltodextrin in the properties of retention and microparticles stability containing essential oil produced by the spray drying process. The blends containing gum arabic, maltodextrin and cellulose nanofibrils have the potential to act as efficients encapsulants in the microencapsulation of essential oils by spray drying process.