Full text
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| Author(s): |
Rafael Henrique de Freitas Zompero
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Master's Dissertation |
| Press: | Campinas, SP. |
| Institution: | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Faculdade de Engenharia Química |
| Defense date: | 2013-09-19 |
| Examining board members: |
Lucimara Gaziola de la Torre;
Samantha Cristina de Pinho Leide;
Passos Cavalvanti
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| Advisor: | Lucimara Gaziola de la Torre |
| Abstract | |
The main goal of the present work was the development and optimization of a scalable process for production of ?-carotene loaded liposomes, aiming its application in the food industry. In that way, the effects of the variables that have influence on the process were analysed, providing greater information about the phenomenology evolving the production of these nano aggregates and improved control over the system responses. ?-carotene is a natural antioxidant, pro-vitaminic, and can be employed as a natural colorant in food formulations. However, its high hydrophobicity makes it difficult to be applied in water based foods. The development of feasible processes that can be implemented in the food industry for ?-carotene encapsulation is a actual research challenge. On the first step of this work the ethanol injection method was investigated aiming process parameters optimization for liposomes production with controlled size and polidispersity. Statistical analyses of the results were performed for variables effects determination and mathematical models development for system behaviour prediction. Then, ?-carotene incorporation on liposomes produced at the optimized condition was evaluated studying different ?-carotene/lipid ratios. ?-carotene incorporation experiments revealed that 0.5% ?-carotene/lipid ratios show to be stable and soluble in aqueous media, result confirmed by Langmuir monolayer experiments. The optimized formulation was submitted to stability tests under controlled stress conditions and, in a second stage, incorporated to polyvinyl alcohol and polyethylene oxide nanofibers using electrospinning technique for extra ?-carotene protection. The produced nanofibers were characterized regarding morphology, diameter, phospholipids presence, ?-carotene homogeneity and stability to UV light exposure. Nanofibers rehydration tests were conducted, verifying using transmission electron microscopy that liposomes were released in the aqueous media. In that way, from the obtained results we can conclude that the ethanol injection method was successfully optimized and the evaluation of the effects of each variable was elucidated, contributing to the technological development of the technique. Experiments regarding application of different stress conditions to liposomes formulations show that there is a barrier that must be overcome related to stability of liposomes to complex food formulations. Finally, incorporation tests on nanofibers showed to be promising, demonstrating the feasibility and benefits that can be aggregated to the system by using electrospinning, contributing to the development of new materials and products to be used by the food processing industries (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 12/02586-0 - Development and optimization of the ethanol injection method for production of liposomes encapsulating beta-carotene and its applications in the food industry |
| Grantee: | Rafael Henrique de Freitas Zômpero |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Master |