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Considerable efforts have been spent on environmentally friendly particles for the encapsulation of essential oils. Polymeric particles were developed to encapsulate the essential oil from Piper nigrum based on gelatin and poly–ε–caprolactone (PCL) carriers. Gas Chromatography ((Flame Ionization Detection (GC/FID) and Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS)), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA), Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM), Attenuated Total Reflectance–Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR–FTIR), and Ultraviolet–Visible (UV–VIS) spectroscopy were used for the full colloidal system characterization. The essential oil was mainly composed of β-caryophyllene (~35%). The stability of the encapsulated systems was evaluated by Encapsulation Efficiency (EE%), electrical conductivity, turbidity, pH, and organoleptic properties (color and odor) after adding different preservatives. The mixture of phenoxyethanol/isotialzoni-3-one (PNE system) resulted in enhanced stability of approximately 120 and 210 days under constant handling and shelf-life tests, respectively. The developed polymeric system presented a similar controlled release in acidic, neutral, or basic pH, and the release curves suggested a pulsatile release mechanism due to a complexation of essential oil in the PCL matrix. Our results showed that the developed system has potential as an alternative stable product and as a controlling agent, due to the pronounced bioactivity of the encapsulated essential oil.

The functional properties of starch could be improved with structural tuning through a number of processing techniques, intensely explored in the past few years by several industries such as food, pharmacology, paper and cosmetics. The current work proposes a model for determining the crystallinity of B‐type Starch based only on X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and Rietveld refinement method (RM). A sample of food grade potato starch (described as B‐type Starch) was submitted to structural modifications using high energy ultrasound followed by acid hydrolysis. The sample was thereby studied by powder XRD measurements and later refined using RM. Apparent crystallite sizes were found to be stable after ultrasound processing, while the crystallinity increased 10% after hydrolysis. Hence, this procedure provides an easy and alternative approach for estimating the crystallinity and the crystallite sizes of the starch sample.

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Bacterial Cellulose (BC) production is still considered expensive and challenging for industries. Herein, BC was produced through an acetic acid bacteria isolated from the kombucha consortium and an extract from acerola juice-industrial waste. The isolated bacterium was characterized through different assays (biochemical characterization and 16S rRNA gene) being identi ed as Komagataeibacter rhaeticus. BC production with static cultivation mode by the isolated strain was compared using traditional Hestrin-Schramm (HS) medium and acerola waste (AC) (5% w/v). The kinetic behavior of BC production was slightly higher in the HS medium reaching 2.9 g/L after 12 days of fermentation, while 2.3 g/L in the AC medium. Minor differences were observed between crystallite size and d-spacing, highlighting BC produced by the AC medium with higher crystallinity of 93.9% and two-fold breaking stress resistance in comparison with the conventional medium, with high-temperature stability and economically feasible, promissory results for further application of this synthetized cellulose obtained from industrial residues.