Effect of Type and Concentration of Carrier Material on the Encapsulation of Pomegranate Peel Using Spray Drying Method

Abstract

This study aimed to establish a procedure for pomegranate peel (PP) valorization and attainment of stable extracts with preserved bioactive compounds. The technology applied was spray drying with carbohydrate-based (maltodextrin, MD) and protein-based (whey protein, WP) carrier materials in different concentrations (80, 100, and 120%). What was analyzed was the impact of the type and concentration of carrier material on the stability and quality of the final encapsulated powder. The best results were achieved when the PP extract was microencapsulated with the carbohydrate-based carrier (100%), where it had the highest encapsulation efficiency (EE) (88.63%), hygroscopicity (15.17%), and water solubility index (87.04%). The moisture content was in the range of 3.69–4.60% and 4.21–5.84% for MD and WP, respectively, indicating that both are suitable for long-term storage. It was observed that changes in carrier concentration significantly influenced most of the powders’ physicochemical properties. Microencapsulation using MD yielded a higher content of punicalin, punicalagin, gallic, and ellagic acid than those with WP. Overall results demonstrated that carbohydrate-based microencapsulation can be utilized efficiently for the protection of powder stability and phytochemical characteristics.

Evaluation of mixtures of maltodextrin and gum Arabic for the encapsulation of Andean blueberry (Vaccinium meridionale) juice by freeze–drying

“…These contrasting behaviours highlight the fact that the recovery and encapsulation efficiency of phenolic compounds is highly dependent and very specific to the nature of the encapsulated compounds and their interactions with the coating materials used (da Rosa et al ., 2014). Factors such as structure, molecular weight, and the number of hydroxyl groups on the polyphenols, are determinant in the phenolic–carbohydrate interactions (Šavikin et al ., 2021). Moreover, the distribution of the phenolic compounds in the shell of the encapsulated materials could be affected by the molecular dimensions and viscosity of the carrier agents, and finally variations in the grinding process, altogether, make the dependence of cargo‐carrier interactions very specific and variable in terms of its effect on encapsulation efficiency and recovery of bioactive compounds, even at the same drying conditions.…”

Micro-Encapsulation of Phytochemicals in Passion Fruit Peel Waste Generated on an Organic Farm: Effect of Carriers on the Quality of Encapsulated Powders and Potential for Value-Addition

“…This suggests that all the powder samples could be stable under appropriate storage conditions. The MC of the PFPP was higher than the MC of MT-encapsulated pomegranate peel powder (3.69–4.60%) [ 14 ]; GA-encapsulated grape skin phenolic extract powder (2.41–2.57%) [ 9 ]; GA-, and MT-developed eggplant peel extract powder (2.34–4.11%) [ 12 ]. The variation in MC could be due to the differences in the drying technique, carrier concentration, nature of the plant extracts, among others.…”

“…High retention of the core materials and their minimum concentration on the surface of powder particles are desired for a successful encapsulation method. A minimum of 50% EE is desired for potential industrial scale-up [ 14 ]. According to Figure 4 e, high EE ranging from 82.64 to 87.18% was obtained in the present study.…”

“…WS, GA, and MT are among the commonly used biopolymers to encapsulate bioactive compounds from plant materials. For instance, MT alone or in combination with GA has been successfully applied to encapsulate eggplant peel extract [ 12 ], grape skin extract [ 9 ], pineapple peel extract [ 13 ], and pomegranate peel extract [ 14 ]. Meanwhile, Adetoro et al [ 10 ] and Nthimole et al [ 15 ] used WS to develop pomegranate, and raspberry juice powder, respectively.…”

Food Industry By-Products as a Sources of Phytochemical Compounds

“…In the paper published by Šavikin et al [ 6 ], the established procedure for pomegranate peel valorization and the attainment of stable extract with preserved bioactive compounds is given. The applied technology involved spray-drying with carbohydrate-based (maltodextrin) and protein-based (whey protein) carrier materials in different concentrations.…”