Fish Oil Microcapsules from O/W Emulsions Produced by Premix Membrane Emulsification

Fish oil microcapsules were prepared by combining a low-energy emulsification method (premix membrane emulsification) with spray drying. Oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions were prepared using a two-step emulsification method that used a rotor–stator homogenizer followed by membrane emulsification. The influence of the emulsification method (mechanical stirring or membrane emulsification), the emulsification conditions (membrane and emulsifier type), and the amount of wall material on the physicochemical characteristics of the microcapsules was studied. The results show that the emulsification method and the type and amount of emulsifier and wall material affect the final amount of encapsulated oil. Microcapsules produced by membrane emulsification and stabilized with 2 % Tween-20 or 10 % whey protein presented the highest values (higher than 50 %) of oil encapsulation efficiency (OEE). It has been found that the OEE increases when decreasing the droplet size of the emulsions as well as with the increase of the amount of wall material employed during drying. Morphology analysis showed that the microcapsules obtained from O/W emulsions produced by premix membrane emulsification were rounder in shape, without visible cracks on the surface and no vacuoles on the inside. Oxidation stability tests performed on some selected samples indicate that the microcapsules with higher stability are the ones produced with a higher amount of wall material and have less surface oil.