An investigation of flavor encapsulation comprising of regenerated cellulose as core and carboxymethyl cellulose as wall

Abstract

The potential application of flavor encapsulation comprising regenerated porous cellulose particles (RPC) as core and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as wall was investigated using l-menthol as a model flavor. RPC was prepared by sol–gel transition method and characterized by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectra, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and micromeritics instruments. The results revealed that the RPC showed the particle size about 300–500 μm as well as the specific surface area about 8.7 m2/g. Based on high adsorptive capability, RPC could encapsulate menthol well and offer high encapsulation yield. The menthol content of RPC-menthol complexes (RPCM) was measured by gas chromatogram (GC) and showed the maximum content of about 12 % menthol with the encapsulation efficiency of 70 %. Besides, RPC provided comparable flavor retention as microcrystalline cellulose during storage under relative humidity of 80 % at 25 °C. CMC was then used to modify RPCM and the construction of RPCM-CMC was confirmed by FTIR and SEM. The studies showed that CMC wall on RPCM surface had no influence on the menthol content and encapsulation efficiency in encapsulation process, but provided a significant increase in menthol retention during storage depending on the content of CMC in RPCM-CMC. Moreover, the stability test at various temperatures showed that both RPCM and RPCM-CMC were stable at room temperature and released flavor at temperatures common in food processing. It was concluded that RPC and CMC modification shows great potential as flavor encapsulant.