Encapsulation of lycopene with lecithin and α-tocopherol by supercritical antisolvent process for stability enhancement

•Lecithin with α-tocopherol protected lycopene against oxidation by SAS process.•Higher pressure and solution flow rate had reverse effects on lycopene recovery.•A central composite design was used to optimize the SAS experiments.•Encapsulated lycopene had better stability than non-encapsulated lycopene.

Encapsulation of lycopene is suggested as an effective approach to against degradation. In this study, the encapsulation of lycopene with lecithin and α-tocopherol was accomplished using supercritical antisolvent (SAS) process. The optimal operating conditions (0.2 mL/min feeding solution with 10 mg/mL lycopene, 20 mg/mL lecithin and 5 mg/mL α-tocopherol, 1.62 kg/h CO2, 47 °C, 8 MPa and 20 min) were obtained through a preliminary investigation followed by applying Response Surface Methodology with desirability function approach to simultaneously optimize multiple responses including yield of particles, recovery of lycopene, and the concentration ratio of α-tocopherol/lycopene. The encapsulated particles had lath-like structure in the size range of 0.8-3 μm and had better stability than non-encapsulated lycopene. The degradation of lycopene was less than 10% for 28-days if the particles were stored under 4 °C. The process developed in this study offers a practical mean to produce encapsulated lycopene with lecithin using SAS process.

Graphical abstractEncapsulation of lycopene with lecithin and α-tocopherol by supercritical antisolvent process for stability enhancementDownload high-res image (125KB)Download full-size image