Abstract: The microcapsule of squalene was carried out by ultrasonic-assisted emulsion, homogenization and spray drying using mixture of gelatin, arabic gum, maltodetrin as wall material, sucrose ester and tween-80 as emulsifier. The conditions of ultrasonic-assisted emulsion, ratio of wall materials, emulsifier amount and spray drying parameters were studied. The microcapsules produced respectively by spray drying and freezing drying were compared in this paper. The optimum process was showed as squalene 3.0 g and tween-80 0.6 g were emulsified under 240 W for 4 min, and then mixed with water as solid content 3.88% with gelatin 2.0 g,arabic gum 2.0 g,maltodetrin 10.0 g,sucrose ester 0.5 g; the inlet and outlet temperatures for spray drying were 180 ℃ and 105 ℃; and the spray air speed was 1.5 m³/h and feeding rate was 6 mL/min. Under these conditions, the encapsulation efficiency was 92.3% and the microcapsule was nearly spherical, the mean size was about 12.0 μm. Microencapsulated products by spray drying had higher encapsulation efficiency, smaller particle size and higher reliability compared with the products by freeze drying.

Key words: squalene, microcapsule, spray drying, ultrasonic-assisted emulsion