Carotenoids microencapsulation by spray drying method and supercritical micronization.

Carotenoids are used as natural food colourants in the food industry. As unstable natural pigments they need protection. This protection can involve the microencapsulation process. There are numerous techniques that can be used for carotenoid protection, but two of them -spray drying and supercritical micronization - are currently the most commonly used. The objective of this paper is to describe these two techniques for carotenoid microencapsulation. In this review information from articles from the last five years was taken into consideration. Pigments described in the review are all carotenoids. Short summary of carotenoids sources was presented. For the spray drying technique, a review of carrier material and process conditions was made. Moreover, a short description of some of the most suitable processes involving supercritical fluids for carotenoids (astaxanthin, β-carotene, lutein and lycopene) encapsulation was given. These include the Supercritical Antisolvent process (SAS), Particles from Gas-Saturated Solutions (PGSS), Supercritical Fluid Extraction From an Emulsion (SFEE) and Solution Enhanced Dispersion by Supercritical fluids (SEDS). In most cases the studies, independently of the described method, were conducted on the laboratory scale. In some a scale-up was also tested. In the review a critical assessment of the used methods was made.