Encapsulation of Food Compounds Using Supercritical Technologies: Applications of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide as an Antisolvent

Abstract

The application of supercritical technologies as an alternative to conventional methods for encapsulating food compounds is an area of research that can lead to significant innovations in various segments of industrial food processing. The existing supercritical techniques are classified as follows according to the function of the supercritical fluid used in the process: solvent; antisolvent; cosolvent or solute; nebulization compound; extractor and antisolvent techniques. Supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) is the substance most widely used for obtaining micro/nanoparticles due to its unique characteristics, and among the existing encapsulation supercritical techniques, those using scCO2 as the antisolvent are more likely to be successful because food compounds are generally less soluble or even insoluble in scCO2. In this context, this review presents and discusses the applications of supercritical processes using scCO2 as the antisolvent for the encapsulation of substances of interest to the food industry.