Production of virgin coconut oil microcapsules from oil-in-water emulsion with supercritical carbon dioxide spray drying

Virgin coconut oil (VCO) has been shown to have health-promoting effects due to its high medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA) content and antioxidant properties, however, its taste and feeling of greasiness are not acceptable to many consumers. In this study, VCO was microencapsulated to develop a new and healthy consumable food product. Spray drying VCO with supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂) at pressures from 12 to 16 MPa, temperatures from 40 to 60 °C was studied for an emulsion feed flow rate that was varied from 3 to 5 mL/min. The encapsulation efficiencies ranged from 73% to 80%, the microcapsules were spherical with diameters that ranged from 27 to 72 μm and the antioxidant activities of the retained microencapsulated oil ranged from 0.6 to 1.0 mmol butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) equivalent/ml oil and 0.8–1.3 mmol trolox equivalent/ml oil for 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) tests and 2,2′-azino-bis (ABTS) tests, respectively. SC-CO₂ spray drying is an effective method to encapsulate VCO and other food oils.