Full Length Research Paper

Microencapsulation of the natural urucum pigment with chitosan by spray drying in different solvents

Alexandre Luis Parize¹, Tereza Cristina Rozone de Souza¹*, Inês Maria Costa Brighente¹, Valfredo T. de Fávere¹, Mauro C. M. Laranjeira¹, Adaiane Spinelli² and Elson Longo²

¹Laboratório QUITECH, Departamento de Química, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Trindade, Florianópolis- SC, Brasil, CEP 88040-900.

²Laboratório LIEC, Departamento de Química, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Paulo, SP.

*corresponding author. E-mail: tereza@qmc.ufsc.br. Tel: (55)48 3672-6844. Fax: (55) 48 3672- 6850.

Accepted 8 July, 2008

The food industry expects increasingly complex properties from food ingredients and such complex properties can often only be provided by microencapsulation. A number of methods are reported for microencapsulation but the most popular technique employed in industry is spray drying. Urucum has many applications in the food industry. In this study, we report the process of urucum microencapsulation into chitosan by spray drying. Characterization by scanning electron microscope, infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry and color were used to analyze solid materials obtained in different carboxylic acids.

Key words: Chitosan, urucum, spray-drying, natural dyes, microencapsulation.