Microencapsulation by conventional complex coacervation, though highly effective and achievable at the bench-scale, is challenging to scale-up because of the complexity of the process. A novel, industrially-scalable microencapsulation process by in situ complex coacervation during spray drying (the ‘CoCo process’) is introduced, where the multiple steps are collapsed into one, to form dry complex coacervated (CoCo) microcapsules by spray drying. The CoCo process was used to encapsulate d-limonene in CoCo microcapsules using alginate and gelatin as wall materials. Insoluble CoCo particles were produced without chemical cross-linking, with extents of complex coacervation of 75 ± 6% and 64 ± 6% for CoCo particles with and without d-limonene, respectively. Up to 82.7% of d-limonene was retained during spray drying; moreover, the CoCo matrix exhibited excellent barrier properties, retaining up to 80.0% of total d-limonene over 72-day storage in sealed vials at room temperature.

Industrial relevance

Commercialization of microencapsulation of bioactives by complex coacervation in agricultural and food applications is hindered by the high-cost and time-intensive multistep process consisting of emulsification, coacervation, shell hardening and drying. In this work, we overcome these limitations by developing an industrially scalable in situ complex coacervation process during spray drying (‘CoCo process’). One-step complex coacervation during spray-drying opens the door to cost-effective, high-throughput, high-volume production of bioactive-containing microcapsules. The protective matrix microcapsules formed by this novel process stabilize and protect the bioactive, while allowing controlled release of the cargo for various applications in the food and many other industries.

中文翻译：

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工业可扩展的复杂凝聚工艺，可微囊化食品成分

通过常规的复合凝聚进行的微囊化虽然非常有效并且可以在实验室规模上实现，但是由于该工艺的复杂性，因此在规模扩大方面具有挑战性。引入了一种新颖的，可在工业上规模化的微胶囊化工艺，该工艺通过在喷雾干燥过程中进行原位复合凝聚（“ CoCo工艺”），将多个步骤分解为一个步骤，从而通过喷雾干燥形成干燥的复合凝聚（CoCo）微胶囊。使用藻酸盐和明胶作为壁材料，使用CoCo工艺将d-柠檬烯包封在CoCo微胶囊中。产生的不溶性CoCo粒子不进行化学交联，对于具有和不具有d的CoCo粒子，复合凝聚的程度分别为75±6％和64±6％-柠檬烯分别。在喷雾干燥过程中保留了高达82.7％的d-柠檬烯；此外，CoCo基质表现出优异的阻隔性能，在室温下密封的小瓶中储存72天后，最多可保留80.0％的总d-柠檬烯。

行业相关性

在农业和食品应用中，通过复杂凝聚形成的生物活性物质微囊化的商业化受到了由乳化，凝聚，壳硬化和干燥组成的高成本，费时的多步过程的阻碍。在这项工作中，我们通过在喷雾干燥过程中开发一种工业可扩展的原位复杂凝聚工艺（“ CoCo工艺”）来克服这些限制。喷雾干燥过程中的一步复杂凝聚可为经济高效，高通量，大批量生产含生物活性微囊打开大门。通过这种新颖的方法形成的保护性基质微囊可以稳定并保护生物活性物质，同时允许将货物控制释放，以用于食品和许多其他行业中的各种应用。