Abstract
Pickering emulsions are emulsions stabilized by solid particles, which generally provide a more stable system than traditional surfactants. Among various solid stabilizers, bio-based particles from renewable resources, such as micro- and nanofibrillated cellulose, may open up new opportunities for the future of Pickering emulsions owing to their properties of nanosize, biodegradability, biocompatibility, and renewability. The aim of this research was to obtain oil-in water (O/W) Pickering emulsions using cellulose microfibers (CMF) produced from cotton cellulose linters by mechanical treatment through a high-pressure homogenizer. The O/W Pickering emulsions were prepared with different O/W ratios by mixing edible oil (sunflower oil) with water containing CMF at concentrations of up to 1.0 wt%. The apparent viscosity of the separated emulsion phase was measured. Results showed the feasibility of using low concentration of CMF for preparing and stabilizing Pickering emulsions, with the apparent viscosity of the emulsion phase increasing 60–90 times with respect to the sunflower oil, for a shear rate of 1 s−1. In addition, theoretical nutrition facts of the emulsions were calculated and compared with other fats used in foods, showing that they can be a promising low-calorie product containing dietary fiber, replacing trans and saturated fats in foods.
Highlights
Pickering emulsions, which contain solid particles as stabilizer, are nowadays used for different applications
The diameter distribution of cellulose microfibers (CMF) was measured, obtaining an average diameter of 105 nm and a median of 90 nm. These results indicate that the cellulose structure is microfibrillated with a low content of nanofibers, as expected, in CMF obtained without pretreatment [39,45,46]
Pickering emulsions with more than 0.50 wt% CMF had a maximum μa with an oil content in the emulsion phase (OCEP) around 65%, increasing up to 90 times the μa of the emulsion phase with respect to the sunflower oil, for a shear rate of 1 s−1
Summary
Pickering emulsions, which contain solid particles as stabilizer, are nowadays used for different applications. Cellulose products have been used to prepare Pickering emulsions as milled cellulose [9]; cellulose nanofibers (CNF) chemically modified using lauroyl chloride [10]; bacterial cellulose [11]; hydroxypropyl microcellulose [12]; cellulose microfibers (CMF) treated with essential oils [13]; chemically unmodified cellulose nano/microcrystals using different alkanes as the oil phase [14,15,16,17]; and chemically modified cellulose, such as sulfated [10], carboxylated [18], or grafted cellulose. Sci. 2019, 9, 359 nanocrystals [19] To obtain these products, mechanical treatments, such as homogenization, are used
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