Effectiveness of encapsulating biopolymers to produce sub-micron emulsions by high energy emulsification techniques

In this study, different emulsifying ingredients were used to produce sub-micron emulsions for encapsulation purposes. Maltodextrin combined with a surface-active biopolymer (modified starch, or whey protein concentrate), or a small molecule surfactant (Tween 20) were used as the continuous phase, while d-limonene was the dispersed phase. Results showed that biopolymers are not efficient ingredients to produce very small emulsion droplets compared with small molecule surfactants because of their slow adsorption kinetics. The main problem with surfactants also is instability of the resulted emulsions due to “depletion and bridging flocculation” caused by free biopolymers and competition between surfactant and surface-active biopolymers. In general, it was not possible to produce a fairly stable microfluidized emulsion with surfactants for encapsulation purposes.