Microencapsulation of Lemongrass Extract using Spray Drying Method: Types of Coating Materials and the Ratio of Coating Materials with Lemongrass Extract
Dian Widya Ningtyas*, Aqila Fitrah Syahida

Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Universitas Brawijaya

corresponding author^s email: dianwidya_n[at]ub.ac.id

Abstract

Lemongrass is a plant that has a very unique taste and aroma in culinary applications. However, the lemongrass plant has a weakness that is vulnerable and unstable to high temperatures and oxidation by UV light. Microencapsulation is one of the methods that can be applied to maintain the bioactive compounds of lemongrass. Randomized Factorial Block Design was used with 2 factors, namely the ratio of lemongrass extract to the coating (1:2 and 2:1) and the type of coating materials (Maltodextrin, Arabic gum, and its combination). A spray dryer was applied to produce the encapsulated lemongrass powder. The type of coating exhibited significant differences in the water content, solubility, particle size, IC50, and antioxidant activity of the microencapsulated lemongrass extract. In addition, the ratio of coating materials to the lemongrass extracts also resulted in differences in solubility and particle size of the microcapsule. The lemongrass extract encapsulated with Arabic gum at a ratio of 2:1 resulted in microcapsules with high antioxidant activity (51.83%) and solubility (89.02%). The resulting particles were spheric in shape at 7 mikrometer size. Therefore, encapsulation of lemongrass extract can be applied to increase its usage in many products.

Keywords: Encapsulation- Lemongrass Extract- Spray drying- Gum Arab

Topic: Food science and biotechnology