Encapsulation of pomegranate peel extract with a new carrier material from orange juice by-products

A new encapsulating agent obtained from orange juice by-products was used as carrier material for spray drying encapsulation of pomegranate peel extract and was compared to common wall materials. The effects of various parameters on encapsulation efficiency and yield and the main properties of the microcapsules (moisture content, bulk density, sorption isotherms, glass transition temperature, particle morphology, and release behavior) were studied. The obtained efficiency value (99.77%) was high, whereas the yield value (12.99%) was much lower than those obtained using common wall materials, a problem associated with the glass transition temperature of the powder. The optimized microcapsules had a low moisture content, a high bulk density, a corrugated surface, free of fractures, and a relatively spherical shape. Thus, the introduction of natural fruit fibers as a wall material demonstrated encouraging results as a replacement carrier for encapsulation of phenolic extracts from food wastes.