Oil-in-water nanoemulsions loaded with lycopene extracts encapsulated by spray drying:Formulation,characterization and optimization

Lycopene is very susceptible to degradation once released from the protective chromoplast environment.In this study,oil-in-water(O/W)nanoemulsions coupled with spray drying technology were applied for the encapsulation and stabilization of lycopene extracted from tomato waste.Tomato extract was obtained by ultrasound-assisted extraction.Nanoemulsions were prepared by a high-speed rotor stator using isopropyl myristate as the oil phase and Pluronic F-127 as the emulsifier for the aqueous external phase.The effect of emulsification process parameters was investigated.Spray drying of the produced emulsions was attempted to obtain a stabilized dry powder after the addition of a coating agent.The effect of different coating agents(maltodextrin,inulin,gum arabic,pectin,whey and polyvinylpyrrolidone),drying temperature(120-170℃),and feed flow rate(3-9 ml·min^(-1))on the obtained particles was evaluated.Results revealed that the emulsion formulation of 20/80(O/W)with 1.5%(mass fraction)of Pluronic F-127 as stabilizer in the aqueous phase resulted in a stable nanoemulsion with droplet sizes in the range of 259-276 nm with a unimodal and sharp size distribution.The extract in the nanoemulsion was well protected at room temperature with a degradation rate of lycopene of about 50%during a month of storage time.The most stable emulsions were then processed by spray drying to obtain a dry powder.Spray drying was particularly successful when using maltodextrin as a coating agent,obtaining dried spherical particles with mean diameters of(4.87±0.17)μm with a smooth surface.The possibility of dissolving the spray dried powder in order to repristinate.The original emulsion was also successfully verified.

Anti-abrasion collagen fiber-based membrane functionalized by UiO-66-NH_(2)with ultra-high efficiency and stability for oil-in-water emulsions separation

Membrane separation strategies offer promising platform for the emulsion separation.However,the low mechanical strength of membrane separation layers and the trade-off between separation flux and efficiency present significant challenges.In this study,we report a CFM@UiO-66-NH_(2)membrane with high separation flux,efficiency and stability,through utilizing a robust anti-abrasion collagen fiber membrane(CFM)as the multifunctional support and UiO-66-NH_(2)by an in-situ growth as the separation layer.The high mechanical strength of the CFM compensated for the weakness of the separation layer,while the charge-breaking effect of UiO-66-NH_(2),along with the size sieving of its constituent separating layers and the capillary effect of the collagen fibers,contributed to the potential for efficient separation.Additionally,the CFM@UiO-66-NH_(2)membrane exhibited superhydrophilic properties,making it suitable for separating oil-in-water microemulsions and nanoemulsions stabilized by anionic surfactants.The membrane demonstrated remarkable separation efficiencies of up to 99.960%and a separation flux of370.05 L·m^(-2)·h^(-1).Moreover,it exhibits stability,durability,and abrasion resistance,maintaining excellent separation performance even when exposed to strong acids and alkalis without any damage to its structure and performance.After six cycles of reuse,it achieved a separation flux of 417.97 L·m^(-2)·h^(-1)and a separation efficiency of 99.747%.Furthermore,after undergoing 500 cycles of strong abrasion,the separation flux remained at 124.39 L·m^(-2)·h^(-1),with a separation efficiency of 99.992%.These properties make it suitable for the long-term use in harsh operating environments.We attribute these properties to the electrostatic effect resulting from the amino group on UiO-66-NH_(2)and its in-situ growth on the CFM,which forms a size-screening separation layer.Our work highlights the potential of the CFM@UiO-66-NH_(2)membrane as an environmentally friendly size-screening material for the efficient emulsion wastewater separation.

Hyperspectral remote sensing identification of marine oil emulsions based on the fusion of spatial and spectral features

Marine oil spill emulsions are difficult to recover,and the damage to the environment is not easy to eliminate.The use of remote sensing to accurately identify oil spill emulsions is highly important for the protection of marine environments.However,the spectrum of oil emulsions changes due to different water content.Hyperspectral remote sensing and deep learning can use spectral and spatial information to identify different types of oil emulsions.Nonetheless,hyperspectral data can also cause information redundancy,reducing classification accuracy and efficiency,and even overfitting in machine learning models.To address these problems,an oil emulsion deep-learning identification model with spatial-spectral feature fusion is established,and feature bands that can distinguish between crude oil,seawater,water-in-oil emulsion(WO),and oil-in-water emulsion(OW)are filtered based on a standard deviation threshold–mutual information method.Using oil spill airborne hyperspectral data,we conducted identification experiments on oil emulsions in different background waters and under different spatial and temporal conditions,analyzed the transferability of the model,and explored the effects of feature band selection and spectral resolution on the identification of oil emulsions.The results show the following.(1)The standard deviation–mutual information feature selection method is able to effectively extract feature bands that can distinguish between WO,OW,oil slick,and seawater.The number of bands was reduced from 224 to 134 after feature selection on the Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer(AVIRIS)data and from 126 to 100 on the S185 data.(2)With feature selection,the overall accuracy and Kappa of the identification results for the training area are 91.80%and 0.86,respectively,improved by 2.62%and 0.04,and the overall accuracy and Kappa of the identification results for the migration area are 86.53%and 0.80,respectively,improved by 3.45%and 0.05.(3)The oil emulsion identification model has a certain degree of transferability and can effectively identify oil spill emulsions for AVIRIS data at different times and locations,with an overall accuracy of more than 80%,Kappa coefficient of more than 0.7,and F1 score of 0.75 or more for each category.(4)As the spectral resolution decreasing,the model yields different degrees of misclassification for areas with a mixed distribution of oil slick and seawater or mixed distribution of WO and OW.Based on the above experimental results,we demonstrate that the oil emulsion identification model with spatial–spectral feature fusion achieves a high accuracy rate in identifying oil emulsion using airborne hyperspectral data,and can be applied to images under different spatial and temporal conditions.Furthermore,we also elucidate the impact of factors such as spectral resolution and background water bodies on the identification process.These findings provide new reference for future endeavors in automated marine oil spill detection.

Influence of the Powder on the Properties of the Liquid Crystal Emulsionsof Emulsions

The purpose of study was to evaluate the effect of four powder including titanium dioxide,bismuth oxychloride,silica,and kaolin on the properties of the liquid crystal emulsions.The results show that the addition of titanium dioxide and bismuth oxychloride had no obvious effect on the liquid crystal structure.In addition,the addition of Kaolin and silica have an effect on the stability of the liquid crystal structure.Sensory evaluation and Texture analyzer results shown that the addition of titanium dioxide and bismuth oxychloride had no obvious effect on the spreadability of liquid crystal system.The addition of silica and Kaolin was increased the hardness and adhesive of the liquid crystal system.Rheological experiments shown that the kaolin system had lower structural stability.the system with titanium dioxide,bismuth oxychloride,and silica has good stability.This paper provides data support for the application of powders in the formulation of liquid crystal system,which aims to provide a data basis for the preparation and applications of liquid crystal emulsion.

Progress in Preparation and Application of Gel-Emulsions

Compared to conventional emulsions, gel-emulsions have a higher internal phase volume fraction, unique structures and properties, higher viscosity, and tunable internal structures. These advantages make them widely applicable in the cosmetics industry, food industry, aerospace, and biomedicine, with significant potential in the development of new materials and high-performance products. The factors affecting the stability of gel-emulsions, as well as the types of stabilizers required for their preparation (including solid particles, surfactants, and small molecule gelators), and the corresponding preparation methods (including the one-step method, two-step method, and phase inversion method) are reviewed in this article. The applications of gel-emulsions in porous materials, food, cosmetics, and stimuli-responsive materials are introduced, and future research directions are also discussed.

Rheo-optic in situ synchronous study on the gelation behaviour and mechanism of waxy crude oil emulsions

An improved rheo-optic in situ synchronous measurement system was employed to investigate the gelation behaviour and mechanism of waxy crude oil emulsions. By combining transmitted natural light and reflected polarized light microscopy, a multiangle composite light source was built to achieve the simultaneous observation of wax crystals and emulsified water droplets, as well as their dynamic aggregation process. Main outcomes on the microscopic mechanism were obtained by developed microscopic image processing method. It was found that the microstructure of W/O waxy crude oil emulsion has the evolution of “individual structure--homogeneous aggregate structure--heterogeneous coaggregate structure--floc structure” during the static cooling, which results in the four stages during gelation process. Different from previous studies, the aggregation of emulsified water droplets was found to be more significant and contributes to the formation and development of the wax crystals-emulsified water droplets coaggregate, which plays a decisive role in the further evolution of the gelled microstructure. Time series microscopic images show the dynamic aggregation of emulsified water droplets and wax crystals. Two different aggregation behaviours between wax crystals and water droplets were observed. That wax crystals can not only embed in gaps between adjacent water droplets and enhance the structure, but also surround the outside of the water droplets and continue to grow resulting in the interconnection of different coaggregates to form a larger floc structure. In addition, correlation between viscoelasticity and microstructure evolution of waxy crude oil emulsions of different water contents was discussed. With increasing water contents, the microstructure is changed from wax crystal flocculation structure as the main skeleton and the emulsified water droplets embedded in it, into the aggregation of emulsified water droplets occupying the main position. When the number of wax crystals and water droplets reaches a certain ratio, did wax crystals form coaggregates with emulsified water droplets, and the remaining wax crystals formed an overall flocculation structure, the viscoelasticity of the waxy crude oil emulsion is the highest.

Temperature-induced hydrophobicity transition of MXene membrane for directly preparing W/O emulsions

Although hydrophilic membranes are desired for reducing resistance to water permeation, hydrophilic surfaces are not used in the water-in-oil(W/O) membrane emulsification process because water spreads on the hydrophilic surface without forming droplets. Here, we report that a hydrophilic ceramic membrane can form a hydrophobic interface in diesel at a higher temperature;interestingly, the experiments show that the contact angle increases when the temperature rises. The hydrophilic membrane surface evolves into a hydrophobic interface, particularly near the boiling point of water, resulting in a water contact angle of 147.5° ± 1.2°. This work established a method for preparing W/O monodispersed emulsions by direct emulsification of hydrophilic ceramic membranes at a temperature close to the boiling point of water.Additionally, it made high flux of membrane emulsification of monodispersed W/O emulsions possible,which satisfied the industrial requirements of fluidized catalytic cracking in the petrochemical industry.

Insights into the enhancement of food flavor perception:strategies,mechanism and emulsion applications

The core drivers of the modern food industry are meeting consumer demand for tasty and healthy foods.The application of food flavor perception enhancement can help to achieve the goals of salt-and sugar-reduction,without compromising the sensory quality of the original food,and this has attracted increasing research attention.The analysis of bibliometric results from 2002 to 2022 reveals that present flavor perception enhancement strategies(changing ingredient formulations,adding salt/sugar substitutes,emulsion delivery systems)are mainly carry out based on sweetness,saltiness and umami.Emulsion systems is becoming a novel research foci and development trends of international food flavor perception-enhancement research.The structured design of food emulsions,by using interface engineering technology,can effectively control,or enhance the release of flavor substances.Thus,this review systematically summarizes strategies,the application of emulsion systems and the mechanisms of action of food flavor perception-enhancement technologies,based on odor-taste cross-modal interaction(OTCMI),to provide insights into the further structural design and application of emulsion systems in this field.

Preparation and Characterization of Biobased Dehydroabietyl Polyethylene Glycol Glycidyl Ether-Grafted Hydroxyethyl Cellulose with High Emulsifying Property

Dehydroabietyl polyethylene glycol glycidyl ether-grafted hydroxyethyl cellulose(HEC)polymer surfactant(DA(EO)5GE-g-HEC)was prepared using ring-opening polymerization with biobased rosin and hydroxyethyl cellulose as feedstocks.Dehydroabietyl polyethylene glycol glycidyl ether(DA(EO)5GE)was formed by condensation of dehydroabietyl alcohol polyoxyethylene ether(Rosin derivative:DA(EO)5H)and epichlorohydrin.The grafting degree of DA(EO)5GE-g-HEC was manipulated by adjusting the mass ratio of HEC and DA(EO)5GE and confirmed by EA.According to the formula,when m(HEC)/m(DA(EO)2GE)was 1:1~1:5,the grafting rate of DA(EO)5GE in DA(EO)5GE-g-HEC varied from 34.43%to 38.33%.The surface activity and foam properties of DA(EO)5GE-g-HEC aqueous solution were studied.The results showed that with the increase in grafting rate,the critical micellar concentration(CMC)in aqueous solution changed from 1.28 to 0.96 g/L.The results of the thermogravimetric analysis showed that the temperature range of the main stage of mass loss of DA(EO)5GE-g-HEC was 310°C~410°C,and the thermal decomposition processes of the samples with five mass ratios were similar.An oil in water emulsion was prepared by choosing cyclohexane as the oil phase and DA(EO)5GE-g-HEC as the emulsifier.The effect of DA(EO)5GE-g-HEC mass fraction on emulsion particle size and stability was analyzed.The results suggested that when the oil-water ratio was 8:2 with 0.4%emulsifier,the emulsion droplets were the smallest in terms of particle size and were the most stable.The rheological test results showed that the apparent viscosity decreased with the increase in shear rate and showed a typical elastic gel phenomenon.

Effect of sodium starch octenyl succinate-based Pickering emulsion on the physicochemical properties of hairtail myofibrillar protein gel subjected to multiple freeze-thaw cycles

A Pickering emulsion based on sodium starch octenyl succinate(SSOS)was prepared and its effects on the physicochemical properties of hairtail myofibrillar protein gels(MPGs)subjected to multiple freeze-thaw(F-T)cycles were investigated.The whiteness,water-holding capacity,storage modulus(G')and texture properties of the MPGs were significantly improved by adding 1%-2%Pickering emulsion(P<0.05).Meanwhile,Raman spectral analysis demonstrated that Pickering emulsion promoted the transformation of secondary structure,enhanced hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions,and promoted the transition of disulfide bond conformation from g-g-g to g-g-t and t-g-t.At an emulsion concentration of 2%,theα-helix content decreased by 10.37%,while theβ-sheet content increased by 7.94%,compared to the control.After F-T cycles,the structure of the MPGs was destroyed,with an increase in hardness and a decrease in whiteness and water-holding capacity,however,the quality degradation of MPGs was reduced with 1%-2%Pickering emulsion.These findings demonstrated that SSOS-Pickering emulsions,as potential fat substitutes,can enhance the gel properties and the F-T stability of MPGs.

Pickering emulsion transport in skeletal muscle tissue:A dissipative particle dynamics simulation approach

Lymph node targeting is a commonly used strategy for particulate vaccines,particularly for Pickering emulsions.However,extensive research on the internal delivery mechanisms of these emulsions,especially the complex intercellular interactions of deformable Pickering emulsions,has been surprisingly sparse.This gap in knowledge holds significant potential for enhancing vaccine efficacy.This study aims to address this by summarizing the process of lymph-node-targeting transport and introducing a dissipative particle dynamics simulation method to evaluate the dynamic processes within cell tissue.The transport of Pickering emulsions in skeletal muscle tissue is specifically investigated as a case study.Various factors impacting the transport process are explored,including local cellular tissue environmental factors and the properties of the Pickering emulsion itself.The simulation results primarily demonstrate that an increase in radial repulsive interaction between emulsion particles can decrease the transport efficiency.Additionally,larger intercellular gaps also diminish the transport efficiency of emulsion droplet particles due to the increased motion complexity within the intricate transport space compared to a single channel.This study sheds light on the nuanced interplay between engineered and biological systems influencing the transport dynamics of Pickering emulsions.Such insights hold valuable potential for optimizing transport processes in practical biomedical applications such as drug delivery.Importantly,the desired transport efficiency varies depending on the specific application.For instance,while a more rapid transport might be crucial for lymph-node-targeted drug delivery,certain applications requiring a slower release of active components could benefit from the reduced transport efficiency observed with increased particle repulsion or larger intercellular gaps.

Experimental investigation on using CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion with high water cut in enhanced oil recovery

CO_(2) emulsions used for EOR have received a lot of interest because of its good performance on CO_(2)mobility reduction.However,most of them have been focusing on the high quality CO_(2) emulsion(high CO_(2) fraction),while CO_(2) emulsion with high water cut has been rarely researched.In this paper,we carried out a comprehensive experimental study of using high water cut CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion for enhancing oil recovery.Firstly,a nonionic surfactant,alkyl glycosides(APG),was selected to stabilize CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion,and the corresponding morphology and stability were evaluated with a transparent PVT cell.Subsequently,plugging capacity and apparent viscosity of CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion were measured systematically by a sand pack displacement apparatus connected with a 1.95-m long capillary tube.Furthermore,a high water cut(40 vol%) CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion was selected for flooding experiments in a long sand pack and a core sample,and the oil recovery,the rate of oil recovery,and the pressure gradients were analyzed.The results indicated that APG had a good performance on emulsifying and stabilizing CO_(2) emulsion.An inversion from H_(2)O/CO_(2) emulsion to CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion with the increase in water cut was confirmed.CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsions with lower water cuts presented higher apparent viscosity,while the optimal plugging capacity of CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion occurred at a certain water cut.Eventually,the displacement using CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion provided 18.98% and 13.36% additional oil recovery than that using pure CO_(2) in long sand pack and core tests,respectively.This work may provide guidelines for EOR using CO_(2) emulsions with high water cut.

Effects of Different Heavy Crude Oil Fractions on the Stability of Oil-in-water Emulsions —— Isolation of functional fractions from heavy crude oil and study of their properties

The functional fractions (acid, basic, amphoteric and neutral fractions) are isolated from the Liaohe Du-84 heavy crude oil and Shengli Gudao Kenxi heavy crude oil by ion-exchange chromatography, but the conventional fractions (saturates, aromatics, resins and asphaltenes) are also isolated from the heavy crude oil. These components have been characterized by spectroscopic methods (FT-IR), namely acid number, basic nitrogen number, ultimate analysis and molecular weight measurements using vapor pressure osmometry (VPO). The ion-exchange chromatography method based on separation by a functional group induces a little change on the nature of the crudes and reasonable mass balances can be easily obtained.

Experimental measurements of water content in crude oil emulsions by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy

We measured the water content （0.01% 0.25% w/w） in crude oil emulsions using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy （THz-TDS）. To improve the precision and range of the measurements, we used 1 and 10 mm thick quartz cells. The experiments were performed at 20 ℃ and the THz wave was transmitted vertically to the samples and detected on the other side. The experimental results suggest linear relation for the THz absorption coefficient and the water content of the crude oil emulsions in the observed range. The linear dependence facilitates high-precision measurements of the water content of crude oil. This suggests the potential of THz-TDS in determining the water concentration in crude oil and borehole fluid identification.

A NOVEL METHOD OF BREAKING WATER-IN-OIL EMULSIONS BY USING MICROPOROUS MEMBRANE

A novel method for breaking emulsions with microporous membranes is presented.A membrane would act as a coalescer if its pore size is smaller than the emulsion droplets and if the dispersed phase has great affinity to the membrane.It was observed that a hydrophilic membrane is able to break water in oil emulsions with high separation efficiency.Effects of the membrane pore size,membrane thickness,transmembrane pressure and emulsion composition on demulsification performance were investigated.It was found that the membrane pore size and transmembrane pressure affect demulsification performance remarkably while other factors have slight or almost no effect.

Influence of polymers on the stability of Gudao crude oil emulsions

The influence of different types and concentrations of polymers on the stability of Gudao crude oil emulsion was investigated by measuring the volume of water separated from the emulsions and the interfacial shear viscosity of the oil/water interfacial film. Experimental results indicate that the simulated water-in-oil emulsion with 40 mg/L of partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide （HPAM） 3530S could be easily broken by adding demulsifier C and was readily separated into two layers. However, HPAM AX-74H and hydrophobically associating water-soluble polymer （HAP） could stabilize the crude oil emulsion. With increasing concentration of AX-74H and HAP, crude oil emulsions became more stable. Water droplets were loosely packed in the water-in model oil emulsion containing HPAM 3530S, but water droplets were smaller and more closely packed in the emulsion containing AX-74H or HAP. The polymers could be adsorbed on the oil/water interface, thereby increasing the strength of the interracial film and enhancing the emulsion stability.

Effect of high-pressure homogenization on stability of emulsions containing zein and pectin

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of high-pressure homogenization on the droplet size and physical stability of different formulations of pectin–zein stabilized rice bran oil emulsions. The obtained emulsions, both before and after passing through highpressure homogenizer, were subjected to stability test under environmental stress conditions,that is, temperature cycling at 4 °C/40 °C for 6 cycles and centrifugal test at 3000 rpm for 10 min. Applying high-pressure homogenization after mechanical homogenization caused only a small additional decrease in emulsion droplet size. The droplet size of emulsions was influenced by the type of pectin used;emulsions using high methoxy pectin(HMP) were smaller than that using low methoxy pectin(LMP). This is due to a greater emulsifying property of HMP than LMP. The emulsions stabilized by HMP–zein showed good physical stability with lower percent creaming index than those using LMP, both before and after passing through high-pressure homogenizer. The stability of emulsions after passing through high-pressure homogenizer was slightly higher when using higher zein concentration, resulting from stronger pectin–zein complexes that could rearrange and adsorb onto the emulsion droplets.

Current Trends in Pickering Emulsions: Particle Morphology and Applications

In recent years,Pickering emulsions and their applications have attracted a great deal of attention due to their special features,which include easy preparation and enhanced stability.In contrast to classical emulsions,in Pickering emulsions,solid microparticles or nanoparticles that localize at the interface between liquids are used as stabilizers,instead of surfactants,to enhance the droplet lifetime.Furthermore,Pickering emulsions show higher stability,lower toxicity,and stimuli-responsiveness,compared with emulsions that are stabilized by surfactants.Therefore,they can be considered attractive components for various uses,such as photocatalysis and the preparation of new materials.Moreover,the nanoparticle morphology strongly influences Pickering emulsion stability as well as the potential utilization of such emulsions.Here,we review recent findings concerning Pickering emulsions,with a particular focus on how the nanoparticles morphology(i.e.,cube,ellipsoid,nanosheet,sphere,cylinder,rod,peanut)influences the type and stability of such emulsions,and their current applications in different fields such as antibacterial activity,protein recognition,catalysis,photocatalysis,and water purification.

Suppression of supercooling of PCM-water emulsions using nano-additives

This study aims to develop a paraffin-based phase change material(PCM) emulsion with a low extent of supercooling for thermal energy storage(TES) systems to improve the cooling efficiency.Hexadecane-water emulsions were prepared and characterized. Multi-wall carbon nanotubes(MWCNTs) were dispersed in the emulsion as a nucleating agent to reduce the supercooling. The MWCNTs were chemically modified with carboxyl groups to improve the dispersion of the tubular particles in the organic liquid. Thermal analyses of the emulsions by differential scanning calorimeter(DSC) indicated that the extent of supercooling was significantly reduced. The concentration of the nucleating agent for an effective supercooling suppression as found to be very low, in agreement with previous findings, and there appeared to be a minimum concentration for the supercooling reduction.

Influence of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose,methylcellulose, gelatin, poloxamer 407 and poloxamer 188 on the formation and stability of soybean oil-in-water emulsions

Macromolecules of polysaccharides, proteins and poloxamers have a hydrophobic portion and a hydrophilic one that can be used as emulsifiers. Parts of these emulsifiers are safe pharmaceutical excipients, which can replace the irritant low molecular weight surfactants to formulate emulsions for the pharmaceutical field. This project focused on preparing O/W emulsions stabilized with polymers for pharmaceuticals such as polysaccharides, proteins and poloxamers, including hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), methylcellulose (MC),gelatin, poloxamer 407 (F127) and poloxamer 188 (F68). Emulsion physical stability was assessed by centrifugation, autoclaving sterilization and droplet size measurements. The stabilization mechanisms of emulsions were determined by interfacial tension and rheological measurements. Results stated that the efficacy of these polymers for pharmaceuticals stabilized emulsions was sorted in the order: F127 > F68 > HPMC > MC > Gelatin.