Encapsulation of patchouli (Pogostemon cablin Benth), nutmeg (Myristica fragrans), and citronella (Cymbopogon nardus) essential oil using a combination of coating materials with complex coacervation method

Essential oils containing volatile aromatic compounds generally have the ability as antioxidants and antibacterial. By nature, they are easily degraded because of oxygen, light, and high temperatures, so they need to be encapsulated. This study aimed to analyze the effect of the type of essential oils and the combination of coating materials on the physicochemical characteristics of essential oil microcapsules. This study used a Randomized Block Design method with two factors, namely the type of essential oil factor (Pogostemon cablin Benth, Myristica fragrans Houtt, Cymbopogon nardus (L) Rendle), and the combination of the coating material factor (gelatin + maltodextrin, gelatin + gum arabic, whey protein isolate + gum arabic). The analysis carried out included encapsulation efficiency and functional groups using FTIR. particle size, polydispersity index, and zeta potential analysis were carried out on the selected microcapsules based on the results of the encapsulation efficiency analysis. The results showed that the nutmeg oil microcapsules with a combination of whey protein isolate + maltodextrin coating and gelatin + maltodextrin coating material had encapsulation efficiency values of 82.43% and 74.06% higher compared to other treatments. Nutmeg oil microcapsules with high encapsulation efficiency tended to have large particle sizes. Nutmeg oil microcapsules that have a small particle size with a combination of gelatin + gum arabic coating material had a particle size of 90.39 d.nm, polydispersity index of 0.639, and zeta potential of (-)38.9 mV. The microcapsules of the three types of essential oils had O-H alcohol functional groups, C-H alkynes, and C=C aromatics.