Flavor and fragrance play an important role and have been widely used in many fields, such as food, cosmetics, textiles and others. They are mainly used to improve the gustatory and olfactory sensations of the product. Typically, many components of flavor and fragrance are volatile liquids that evaporate extremely easily. In addition, most of these compounds are sensitive to light, heat or oxygen. As a result, they may deteriorate during manufacturing process and reduce or lose their shelf-life activity during storage and consumer manipulation[1]. Encapsulation techniques are one of the most common methods used to address these problems. Through encapsulation, compounds are protected by materials with different properties that act as diffusion barriers, thereby enhancing their retention, prolonging chemical stability and controlling release under predetermined conditions. Alfa Chemistry is keen to explore encapsulation technologies to maximize the delivery efficiency of flavor and fragrance molecules.
Advantages
The main advantages of flavor and fragrance encapsulation are as follows.
- Encapsulated flavors and fragrances have greater stability and reduce reactivity with external environments such as oxygen, pH and water to a greater extent.
- Encapsulation converts a gas or liquid into a solid form. This means that the encapsulated flavors and fragrances can be easily used in dry products.
- Size, shape and morphology of encapsulated flavor and fragrance particles can support the perception of aroma, taste, and appearance of products.
- Encapsulation helps to reduce the evaporation rate of the fragrance, controls the release rate and provides sustained release.
- Encapsulation reduces the loss of top note when repeatedly opening the package.
Major processes
The classic processes used to encapsulate flavors and fragrances are mainly as follows.
- Spray drying: This is a cost-effective technology widely used in flavor and fragrance encapsulation. The technology has been used in the food industry since the late 1950s to provide protection of aroma chemicals against oxidation or degradation and to convert liquids into free-flowing solids.
- Spray chilling: This is another congener technique utilized for the microencapsulation of flavors or fragrances, especially when lipids are employed as wall materials. In spray chilling, the flavor or fragrance to be encapsulated is mixed with the carrier and atomized into cooled or chilled air as opposed to heated air as in spray drying.
Figure 1. The process of (a) spray drying and (b)spray chilling[2]
- Extrusion: Extrusion is primarily used to produce high-density encapsulated products by mixing a molten carrier with an active ingredient and subsequent solidification.
Figure 2. Extrusion process[2]
- Complex coacervation: A complex coacervation is a microencapsulation approach that uses the electrostatic attraction forces of two oppositely charged biopolymers to form a coacervate or precipitate.
Figure 3. Complex coacervation process[2]
- Cyclodextrin complexation: Cyclodextrins can encapsulate a variety of hydrophobic molecules or parts of molecules inside their cavity through non-covalent interactions. It can be a viable option as encapsulation technology.
- Fluidized bed coating: Fluidized bed coating is one of the most proficient encapsulation systems and is finding ever-growing applications in food industries. One of the advantages of the technology is its large selection of coating materials, as they can be either hydrophilic or hydrophobic in nature, solvent-mediated or non-solvent formulations.
Micro- and nano-encapsulation are rapidly expanding to address potential bioavailability issues and provide new solutions to challenges in the cosmetics, food, and other industries. If you are not only interested in the flavor and fragrance industry, but also have an in-depth knowledge of encapsulation technology, please feel free to contact us. We look forward to exploring new possibilities with you.
References:
- Weerawatanakorn, M.; et al. Reactivity and stability of selected flavor compounds. J. Food Drug Anal. 2015, 23: 176-190.
- Uhlemann, J.; et al. Flavor encapsulation technologies: an overview including recent developments. Perfumer & Flavorist. 2002, 27: 52-61.
For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.
