Exploring the drying behaviors of microencapsulated noni juice using reaction engineering approach (REA) mathematical modelling

Spray drying microencapsulation using suitable wall materials is effective for masking the unpleasant odor in fermented noni juice (FNJ), however, the drying behaviors have not been fully understood. The study aims to investigate the drying behaviors of FNJ containing different wall materials using reaction engineering approach (REA). The single droplet drying (SDD) was employed to study the basic parameters (diameter, mass and temperature). The results illustrated that FNJ containing M1 (maltodextrin, 10-13 DE) with 28% solids content exhibited an earlier crust formation behavior than that containing M3 (maltodextrin, 17-20 DE) (28%). The master activation energy curves revealed that M3 (28%) droplet required lesser energy for moisture evaporation than M1 (28%, 21%) and GA (gum acacia, 21%) droplets. The increased solids content of droplet caused a reduced shrinkage and an increased particle size. Current study concluded that the fundamental knowledge obtained would enable scale-up of spray drying microencapsulation of FNJ.