Study on the spray-drying encapsulation of lutein in the porous starch and gelatin mixture

Spray-drying encapsulation of lutein was conducted to improve its stability and water-solubility. With the porous starch and gelatin as wall material, lutein microcapsules were effectively prepared by spray-drying process. Results showed the optimal technology of lutein encapsulation as follows: the ratio of core to wall material of 1/30, embedding temperature of 60 degrees C, embedding time 1.5 h, inlet gas temperature of 190 degrees C, feed flow rate 50 mL/min and drying air flow 60 m(3)/h, at which the microcapsules had good encapsulation efficiency (94.4 +/- 0.4)% and high yield of product (92.6 +/- 1.7)%. Its solubility was increased and it could be directly dissolved in water. The stability of lutein microcapsule in the new carrier mixture against heat, pH, light and oxygen was also greatly improved and their retention rates had been improved about 15-50% than that of free lutein. The results would be helpful to the application of lutein in food industry.