Encapsulation efficiency and thermal stability of lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) essential oil microencapsulated by the spray-drying process

Abstract

Encapsulation is a potential technique that is widely studied and applied in the preservation of biological compounds and living cells. Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) essential oil is a biological compound that emits a strong aroma and contains robust antibacterial compounds, hence its applications in various areas such as food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. However, lemongrass essential oil is in a liquid form, so it is easy to evaporate and oxidize when being exposed to temperature variations, oxygen, and light. Hence, the present study was aimed to determine the effects of heating temperature and time on the stability of microencapsulated lemongrass essential oil powder. In this research, microencapsulated powder was produced by the spray-drying method using maltodextrin (30%, w/w) as the wall material and lemongrass (1.5%, w/w) as the core material. Thereafter, the effects of heat during processing, including temperature (60°C to 180°C) and treatment time (from 20 to 80 mins) were evaluated. The results showed that when the temperature and the time increased, the color of powder became darker and OR values were rapidly reduced. The selected optimal temperature and time was 100°C and 20 mins. The encapsulated essential oil maintained its main components including nerol, citral a, citral b, and geraniol, even after being heated.

Recent Advances in the Microencapsulation of Essential Oils, Lipids, and Compound Lipids through Spray Drying: A Review

“…As of 2015, two trends are observed regarding encapsulating materials: the first trend focuses on improving the encapsulation efficiency of conventional materials [ 33 , 108 , 109 ], and the second trend focuses on the use of novel encapsulating materials [ 42 , 59 , 110 ]. Both trends can be observed in Table 2 , Table 3 and Table 4 .…”

“…The coacervation technique for microencapsulation has been recorded to be applied for the first time at an industrial level in 1950, when the National Cash Register Company developed “carbonless carbon paper” [ 25 ], and it has been used ever since then. Currently, microencapsulation is used in various productive sectors such as textiles [ 26 , 27 , 28 ], agricultural [ 10 , 20 , 29 ], cosmetics [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ], and pharmaceuticals [ 13 , 16 , 28 , 29 , 34 ]. In the food industry, microencapsulation is utilized to avoid the loss of flavor during processing or storage, because they are usually volatile compounds, highly sensitive to environmental conditions such as light, heat, humidity, oxygen, and radiation, among others, thus reducing unwanted interactions of the bioactive ingredients with the exterior environment [ 31 , 35 ].…”

“…The coacervation technique for microencapsulation has been recorded to be applied for the first time at an industrial level in 1950, when the National Cash Register Company developed "carbonless carbon paper" [25], and it has been used ever since then. Currently, microencapsulation is used in various productive sectors such as textiles [26][27][28], agricultural [10,20,29], cosmetics [30][31][32][33], and pharmaceuticals [13,16,28,29,34]. In the food indus- Phase 2: A table format was created that contains the following criteria: article name, author, year, country, keywords, abstract, journal, Scimago quartile, and explicit mention of spray drying and encapsulation of essential oil or lipids or compound lipids.…”

“…The selected optimal temperature and time was 100 • C and 20 min. [33] Bovine serum albumin, gum acacia and oxidized starch crosslinker…”

Spray drying encapsulation of essential oils: Insights on various factors affecting the physicochemical properties of the microcapsules

“…So, it is not colour stable with high temperatures. This phenomenon was observed due to the caramelization of sugars or the browning of sugars 117 . The orange essential oil was encapsulated in maltodextrin Dextrose Equivalent (DE9‐12).…”