Investigation of physical conditions in the formation of micro and Nano iron/alginate capsules in the coacervation technique

Microencapsulation is a process in which solid, liquid or gas components are covered with a septum. The present study has focused on the effect of stirring to produce ferric saccharide capsules with alginate coating applying the coacervation method so that we can obtain the best capsules for fortification of hydrated and dehydrated food products. At first, three methods, including stirrer, ultra-sonic and sonic bath were compared in order to select the best way of stirring. The experiment results showed that turning was provided by the stirrer method resulted in capsulation with spherical morphology and uniform distribution of surface. In this case the other factors such as the alginate concentration and calcium salt concentration were investigated. After studying the various conditions, it is suggested that the best Capsules were formed in alginate 3% at 500 rpm with concentration of calcium chloride salt 1M. The resulted capsules by this method had a high efficiency and were more stable in hydrated and dehydrated food ingredients network for a long time.