Continuous flow thin film microfluidic mediated nano-encapsulation of fish oil

Abstract

A facile process has been developed for the encapsulation of fish oil using a thin film vortex fluidic device (VFD) operating under continuous flow, allowing control over the size of the encapsulated particles which are spheroidal in shape with diameters ranging from 50 to 250 nm. This microfluidic platform simplifies the processing procedure of water-in-oil-in-water (w/o/w) encapsulation, as now a time and cost saving one-step process devoid of any organic solvents, in contrast to the conventional homogenization process which is inherently complex, involving multiple-steps and the use of organic solvents. Moreover, use of homogenization (as a benchmark to encapsulate fish oil) afforded much larger macro-particles, ranging in size from 2 to 4 μm. Smaller encapsulated particles fabricated using VFD processing could lead to improved absorption from fish oil. Overall, VFD processing provides a new alternative bottom–up approach to easy, scalable processing, without the need for organic solvents which are counterproductive in the food industry.