Flavor encapsulation using electrostatic atomization

A granulated, encapsulated product comprising a plurality of bound particles, each particle comprising a core material encapsulated within a wall material, wherein the encapsulated product is prepared by an electrostatic spray drying process comprising the steps of:

• forming an emulsion by emulsifying at least one core material with a solution or a suspension comprising water and at least one wall material wherein the resulting emulsion has a solids content of 15% to 50% by weight of the emulsion and a viscosity of about 150 cps to about 250 cps;
• introducing the emulsion into an electrostatic spray dryer at a fixed feed rate in the range of about 2 ml/min to about 10,000 ml/min;
• atomizing the emulsion into droplets with a gas pressurized at a pressure of 5 psi to 80 psi in an electrostatic spray dryer, and applying an electrostatic charge to the droplets in the range of about 5 kV to about 60 kV;
• drying the electrostatically charged emulsion droplets in the electrostatic spray dryer to effect binding of the electrostatically charged emulsion droplets at an inlet temperature of about 25° C. to about 110° C. and an outlet temperature of about 25° C. to about 80° C. to form the granulated, encapsulated product comprising the plurality of bound particles,
• wherein binding of the electrostatically charged emulsion droplets is achieved without the use of a fluidized bed or an added binding agent;
• and
• wherein binding of the electrostatically charged emulsion droplets results in the granulated, encapsulated product having a granulated morphology representative of the plurality of bound particles.