Design of experiments for microencapsulation applications: A review

Abstract

Microencapsulation techniques have been intensively explored by many research sectors such as pharmaceuticaland food industries. Microencapsulation allows to protect the active ingredient from the external environment,mask undesired flavours, a possible controlled release of compounds among others. The purpose of this reviewis to provide a background of design of experiments in microencapsulation research context. Optimization processes are required for an accurate research in these fields and therefore, the right implementation of micro-sizedtechniques at industrial scale. This article critically reviews the use of the response surface methodologies inpharmaceutical and food microencapsulation research areas. A survey of optimization procedures in the literature, in the last few years is also presented.