Author: Shweta Sahni
Sahni, Shweta, 2019 Microencapsulation of Omega-3 fatty acids for enhancing their stability, Flinders University, College of Medicine and Public Health
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Microencapsulation of omega-3 oil and biomass enriched in omega-3 fatty acid was investigated via ionic gelation and complex coacervation to enhance their stability. It was observed that the gelation process, had a significant effect on the encapsulation efficiency and on bead properties. The alginate-oil emulsion (alginate 2%v/v with an oil loading 10%, v/v) resulted in an encapsulation efficiency of 95% and found to be stable. Under a similar condition, when biomass was encapsulated the efficiency was 94%. Similarly, other wall materials such as maltodextrins and gelatin were used to encapsulate the omega-3 oil. The beads were spherical that resulted in improved encapsulation efficiency of 96%. In complex coacervation, the optimum ratio between gelatin A, sodium alginate and pH to form a coacervate complex was found to be 1.4:0.8 and 3.6, respectively. Storage stability was significantly high when maltodextrin and gelatin wall material was used as compared to alginate beads (p<0.05). During 5-day oxidative stability analysis, beads and coacervates exhibited significantly high (p<0.05) stability.
Keywords: Microencapsulation, omega-3 oil, biomass, Ionic gelation, complex coacervation
Subject: Biotechnology thesis
Thesis type: Masters
Completed: 2019
School: College of Medicine and Public Health
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Munish Puri