Preparation of micron‐scale monodisperse oil‐in‐water microspheres by microchannel emulsification

Abstract

AbstractMicron‐scale monodisperse oil‐in‐water (O/W) micropheres (MS) were prepared using a novel microchannel (MC) emulsification technique. The characteristics of the MS preparation and the O/W‐MS prepared were studied. Soybean oil and medium‐chain triacyglycerol (MCT) were used as the disprrsed phase, and physiological saline was used as the continuous phase. Silicon MC with 1 to 3μm‐equivalent channel diameters were employed. A novel MC module was devised to easily recover the O/W‐MS prepared. The effects of the channel shape on the behavior of MS formation, on the MS size, and on the distribution were investigated. An MC with a terrace at the MC outlet stably yielded micron‐scale monodisperse O/W‐MS; the MS had diameters of about 5 μm, and their coefficients of variation were below 9%. Monodisperse food‐grade O/W‐MS with diameters of about 4 μm could be obtained by using polyglycerol fatty acid ester as the surfactant. The size and size distribution of the recovered O/W‐MS remained almost constant over 60 d, demonstrating their long‐term stability.