In this paper, methyl cellulose (MC) was used to increase the compatibility of the tea tree oil and chitosan (CTS)/alginate (ALG) during spray-dried microencapsulation. The best spray drying conditions was: air inlet temperature 210oC, needling frequency 2s each time, pump flow 60 r/min. The highest oil content 20.7% was obtained with the ratio of methyl cellulose, chitosan, alginate and oil 2:3:15:4. The microcapsules in solvent were characterized with polarized light microscopy (PLM), which indicated that the microcapsules from MC/CTS/ALG expressed good spherical shape, while the other systems with one component, or bicomponents of MC, CTS, or ALG, or three components MC/ALG/CTS resulted in no good spherical microcapsules. Scanning Electron Microscopes of the dried samples revealed spheres with little deformed surface owing to the fast evaporation of water during drying. After one month storage, the oil loss was 1.02%, indicating that the microcapsules were stable during storage. Key words: tea tree Oil, microencapsulation, characterization, methyl cellulose, chitosan, alginate

Spray-dried microencapsulation of tea tree oil with a complex of methyl cellulose/chitosan/alginate

249th National Meeting (2015)

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