As an agricultural byproduct, citrus fiber is produced from leftover cell wall materials, which is frequently dumped or used as cattle feed after juice production. Citrus fiber contains high amounts of pectin, cellulose, hemicellulose, and protein, which are rich in functional hydroxyl, carboxylic, acetyl, and phenolic groups. A novel thermal and mechanical process expands the surface area and exposes functional groups to improve the surface activity and generate high water holding capacity, thickening and emulsification properties. The processed citrus fiber was characterized with NMR and FTIR to determine its composition and functionality. The surface activity was analyzed by water solubility and surface tension testing. With pure vegetable oil as an oil phase, emulsions were formulated from water-to-oil ratio of 9:1 to 1:9 under very low-energy mixing by only handshaking. The emulsion properties were evaluated with drop size, stability, and rheological measurement. The morphology of the citrus fiber and emulsions were observed with the SEM and TEM, respectively. The highly surface-active citrus fiber can be successfully used in multiple foods, beverages, and other industrial applications.

Highly surface-active citrus fiber as a natural emulsifier for low-energy emulsification

2019 Spring National Meeting

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