Green electrospinning for safe food engineering

Abstract

The nanofibers formed by electrospinning technology have the advantages of orderly release mechanism and controllable dissolution rate. However, the use of toxic and harmful organic solvents is widespread in the field of electrospinning, which not only poses a potential hazard to human health and the natural environment, but also increases the manufacturing cost and difficulty of electrospinning. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to introduce the application of green electrospinning technology in food engineering. Water solvent electrospinning is mainly introduced, and some water-soluble biopolymer and synthetic polymers are reviewed. Their latest applications and development limitations in the field of food engineering are introduced and discussed. The water solvent electrospinning introduced here transforms a process that has adverse effects on the environment and health into a scalable and ecologically conscious “green” electrospinning, which is both important and timely and will bring exemplary changes to the field of food engineering.