Technologies for producing microcapsules with added value

Two technologies were studied to produce microcapsules for different application. Interfacial polymerization was applied to produce polyurethane urea (PUU) microcapsules with limonene oil for textile application and coacervation was applied to produce polylactide (PLA) microcapsules with thyme oil for cosmetics application. The production of PUU microcapsules using interfacial polymerization technology was performed in a basic IKA Miniplant laboratory reactor, in order to produce microcapsules with controlled parameters. In this formulation, limonene fragrant chemical chatracteristic of lemon oil was microencapsulated, because lemon oil was the most used oil in perfumery. Coacervation was the chosen technique to produce PLA microcapsules using thyme oil, an antioxidant and antimicrobial agent as the core material. The novelty of our approach consists on dissolving PLA in dimethylformamide (DMF) which is a good solvent for PLA but in addition has a high solubility in water. Upon contact with water, the homogeneous solution of PLA in DMF promote the precipitation of PLA around the thyme oil core. The characterization of PUU and PLA microcapsules includes size distribution, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and Headspace/GC/FID