Formation of concentrated triglyceride nanoemulsions and nanogels: natural emulsifiers and high power ultrasound

The fabrication of concentrated nanoemulsions provides potential advantages such as loading capacity enhancement, storage and transportation costs reduction, and creation of novel textures. The current study investigated the capability of high power ultrasound on nanoemulsification of high concentration triglyceride using various natural emulsifiers (saponin, whey protein isolate, lecithin and sucrose monopalmitate). The impact of the emulsifier concentration (up to 6 wt%), oil content (up to 60 wt%) and exposure to sonication (up to 33 min) on the droplet size distribution, physical stability and rheological properties were evaluated. Regarding the dilute nanoemulsion (10 wt% oil), droplet size was inversely correlated with the concentration of emulsifiers, however only by using saponin (2 wt%) the droplet size was in nano range (d < 200 nm). The concentrated nanoemulsions (20–50 wt%) were also fabricated under sonication (15 min at saponin-to-oil ratio 2 : 10 w/w%). They also presented shear-thinning behavior with relatively low consistency coefficients. Surprisingly, the one with 60 wt% oil was easily converted to viscoelastic gel upon 3 min sonication. Owing to such characteristics, they could have potential applicability in formulation of soft foods, creams, sauces, salad dressings, pastes, lotions, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.