Microencapsulation of menhaden fish oil containing soluble rice bran fiber using spray drying technology.

Emulsion (EFMO) containing purified menhaden oil (PMO) and soluble rice bran fiber (SRBF) was dried in a pilot scale spray dryer and produced microencapsulated PMO with SRBF (MFMO). EFMO had well isolated spherical droplets with the size of 1 to 10 μm and showed pseudoplastic fluid and viscoelastic characteristics. EFMO had lower lipid oxidation than the emulsion containing PMO without SRBF when both emulsions were stored at 20 and 40 °C for 88 h, which indicated that the SRBF reduced the lipid oxidation in the EFMO. The estimated MFMO production rate (3.45 × 10(-5) kg dry solids/s) was higher than the actual production rate (2.31 × 10(-5) kg dry solids/s). The energy required to spray dry the EFMO was 12232 kJ/kg of emulsion. EPA and DHA contents of MFMO were 11.52% and 4.51%, respectively. The particle size of 90% MFMO ranged from 8 to 62 μm, and the volume-length diameter of MFMO was 28.5 μm.