Microencapsulation of grapefruit oils by ionic gelation and extrusion

Abstract

Microencapsulation is defined as a packaging technology, successfully applied in the food, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. It is used as a method of protection of active ingredients sensitive to external factors, such as essential oils. In this way, these compounds can be incorporated into different products where controlled release takes place. It takes advantage of its antimicrobial, preservative, flavoring or flavoring properties, among others. In this work the microencapsulation process of grapefruit essential oil with sodium alginate was optimized by external ionic gelation coupled to an extrusion. 1% w / v sodium alginate and 2% w/w essential oil load were used. The  optimum point was determined with calcium chloride concentration of 10% w/v with cross-linking time of 45 minutes. Under these conditions the average efficiency was 95.89 ± 0.04%, and the average yield 56.87 ± 1.2%.