Method for preparing microcapsules by coacervation
AssigneeFirmenich SA
InventorsGregory Dardelle, Valery Normand
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a method for preparing microcapsules by coacervation, and to the use of transglutaminase for cross-linking in complex coacervation. The present invention relates further to coacervation processes in general in which a material to be encapsulated is added to a solution comprising at least one colloid below the gelling temperature of the colloid. According to a method of the present invention, an emulsion or suspension of hydrophobic material is prepared after cooling a solution that includes hydrocolloids below the critical gelling temperature of a coacervate phase.
Claims11
-12. (canceled)
A method of micro-encapsulating a hydrophobic material by coacervation, which comprises:
- preparing a hydrocolloid solution by dissolving at least one gellable protein and, optionally, a non-protein polymer compound, in water;
- cooling the hydrocolloid solution to a temperature below the gelling temperature of a coacervate phase based on the protein;
- preparing, after the cooling step, an emulsion or suspension by emulsifying or suspending a hydrophobic material in the solution;
- forming a colloid wall comprising the protein around droplets or particles of the hydrophobic material present in an emulsion or suspension;
- and
- cross-linking the colloid wall to microencapsulate the hydrophobic material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.