Re-dispersible dry sunflower oil emulsions enabled by regenerated chitin

Abstract

Sustainable, bio-based emulsifications stored as dry particles and conveniently converted to edible re-dispersible emulsions are of increasing interest in the food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals industries. Dried sunflower oil emulsions (98 g/100 g) oil content that are conveniently re-dispersible, were prepared from a complex of regenerated chitin (RCh) and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (K100M) via Pickering emulsion. The concentration of RCh and K100M (0.25–1.0 g/100 g) on the formulation of emulsions droplets, stability, and viscoelastic properties were investigated. The results showed the emulsion droplets decreased with the increasing concentration of RCh and K100M, which led to an increase in the emulsion stability. The emulsions prepared dried without oil leakage and were easily redispersible after the freeze or oven-drying. Compared to the freshly prepared emulsions before drying, the re-dispersed emulsions from freeze-/oven-drying consisted of similar symmetrically spherical-shaped droplets with a slight increase in size. The marked stability of such emulsions was attributed to highly networked RCh systems both for fresh and re-dispersed emulsions confirmed by results of rheology and long-term stability. Therefore, such dried edible emulsions containing sustainable, bio-based RCh/K100M emulsifiers have a significant potential for many applications.