title: Microencapsulation by Membrane Emulsiﬁcation of Biophenols Recovered from Olive Mill Wastewaters.
abstract: Biophenols are highly prized for their free radical scavenging and antioxidant activities. Olive mill wastewaters (OMWWs) are rich in biophenols. For this reason, there is a growing interest in the recovery and valorization of these compounds. Applications for the encapsulation have increased in the food industry as well as the pharmaceutical and cosmetic fields, among others. Advancements in micro-fabrication methods are needed to design new functional particles with target properties in terms of size, size distribution, and functional activity. This paper describes the use of the membrane emulsification method for the fine-tuning of microparticle production with biofunctional activity. In particular, in this pioneering work, membrane emulsification has been used as an advanced method for biophenols encapsulation. Catechol has been used as a biophenol model, while a biophenols mixture recovered from OMWWs were used as a real matrix. Water-in-oil emulsions with droplet sizes approximately 2.3 times the membrane pore diameter, a distribution span of 0.33, and high encapsulation efficiency (98% ± 1% and 92% ± 3%, for catechol and biophenols, respectively) were produced. The release of biophenols was also investigated.
authors.affiliation: Institute on Membrane Technology, National Research Council, ITM-CNR, Via P. Bucci 17/C at University of Calabria, Calabria 87036, Italy. e.piacentini@itm.cnr.it.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Piacentini
authors.affiliation: Institute on Membrane Technology, National Research Council, ITM-CNR, Via P. Bucci 17/C at University of Calabria, Calabria 87036, Italy. t.poerio@itm.cnr.it.
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Poerio
authors.affiliation: Institute on Membrane Technology, National Research Council, ITM-CNR, Via P. Bucci 17/C at University of Calabria, Calabria 87036, Italy. f.bazzarelli@itm.cnr.it.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bazzarelli
authors.affiliation: Institute on Membrane Technology, National Research Council, ITM-CNR, Via P. Bucci 17/C at University of Calabria, Calabria 87036, Italy. l.giorno@itm.cnr.it.
authors.forename: Lidietta
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Giorno
keywords: biophenols; drug delivery; encapsulation; membrane emulsiﬁcation; olive mill wastewater; water-in-oil emulsions