Sistema microencapsulado contendo óleo essencial de citrus e processo de obtenção.

Abstract

Essential oils are natural, complex mixtures of volatile substances that have intense aroma; they are liquids of oily appearance at room temperature, but they volatilize in exposure to air at specific temperatures. Considered as the most important antimicrobial agents present in plants, essential oils also have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, insecticidal properties, among others. Orange essential oil consists of chemically unstable flavoring compounds, which easily degrade in the presence of light, air and moisture. With this in mind, this work studied the microencapsulation of sweet orange essential oil (Citrus sinensis v. dulcis) using maltodextrin and gelatin as low cost encapsulants, as an alternative to increase stability, as well as to encourage the aggregation of value to the peels, from which the essential oil is obtained, aiming at environmental preservation. The study was conducted at the Animal Nutrition Laboratory, Center for Health and Rural Technology (CSTR), Federal University of Campina Grande - UFCG, Campus Patos - PB. Three microencapsulated formulations were developed in which the microencapsulated systems were prepared with fixed content of orange essential oil (10% m/m), varying the ratio of encapsulants of the formulations, in which the former included only maltodextrin and the others included proportion of maltodextrin and gelatin of 2: 1 and 1: 1, respectively. The formulations were obtained by emulsification / lyophilization. The study resulted in a patent application (BR 10 2017 004722 9), deposited with the National Institute of Industrial Property. The final product obtained has strong potential for technological innovation, as well as greater handling safety, longer shelf life and, therefore, the maximum integrity maintenance, also adding the possibility of insertion of a high - value product in the national market, where, among many sectors, one of the big beneficiaries is the food industry, including the strengthening of the interaction between University and Industry and also the preservation of the environment.