Januário, Maria Isabel NunesBarros, Sara Beirão da Costa TeixeiraCarvalho, Ana Inês Mateus2013-06-172013-06-172013Carvalho, A.I.M. - Caracterização morfológica das microcápsulas de inulina de diferentes graus de polimerização médio produzidas por spray drying. Lisboa: ISA, 2013http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/5679Mestrado em Engenharia Alimentar - Instituto Superior de AgronomiaInulin plays an important role in food industry, being incorporated in different products because it combines prebiotic and functional properties as dietary fiber and technological properties, in particular as substitute for sugar or fat. While encapsulation matrix, inulin also allows to carry active substances, protecting them from adverse conditions. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of inulin degree of polymerization (DP) on the morphology of microcapsules formed by Spray Drying, with the determination of the average degree of polymerization (DPa) performed by HPLC. The effects of atomization temperature (120 and 190 °C) and of solids concentration (5, 10 and 15%) were also evaluated. The microcapsules showed a mean size between 20 and 32 μm for DPa of 4 (FOS), and between 3 and 10 μm for inulin with DP>10 and DPa ranging between 26 and 35. The FOS originate elongated microcapsules with smooth surface and irregular shape, demonstrating greater size heterogeneity. By contrast, the microcapsules of inulin with higher DP are mainly spherical with smooth surface, especially when atomized at 190 ° C. The effects of drying temperature and of solids concentration were dependent on inulin DP.porFOSinulinencapsulationDPaHPLCspray dryingmaster thesis201845288