Microencapsulation of sesame seed oil by tamarind seed mucilage

Tamarind seed mucilage (TSM) was evaluated as a novel wall material for microencapsulation of sesame oil (SO) by spray-drying method. Wall material:core ratios of 1:1 (M1) and 1:2 (M2) were considered, and the corresponding physical and flow properties, thermal stability, functional groups composition, morphology, encapsulation efficiency, and oxidative stability were evaluated. Powder of M1 and M2 microcapsules exhibited free-flowing characteristics. The particle size distribution for M1 microcapsules was monomodal with diameter in the range 1-50 μm. In contrast, Microcapsules M2 presented a bimodal distribution with diameter in the ranges 1-50 μm and 50-125 μm. M1 microcapsules were thermally stable until 227 °C and microcapsules M2 until 178 °C. Microcapsules M1 and M2 exhibited a dominant amorphous halo and external morphology almost spherical in shape. Encapsulation efficiency was 91.05% for M1 and 81.22% for M2. Peroxide formation reached values after six weeks was 14.65 and 16.51 mEq/kgOil for M1 and M2 respectively. Overall, the results led to the conclusion that tamarind mucilage is a viable material for high microencapsulation efficiency, while offering protection against oxidation mechanisms of SO.