Nanofibre encapsulation of limonene and modelling its release mechanisms

Abstract

In this study, limonene was encapsulated by using gelatine, Na-alginate, polyvinyl alcohol, lactalbumin or xanthan gum with the uniaxial electrospinning process. The highest encapsulation efficiency was obtained for the sample containing polyvinyl alcohol. The release kinetic studies of nanofibre encapsulated limonene were carried out at 5.5, 20, and 38.5 °C. The Peppas equation expressed the release behavior of limonene for all systems very well, indicating quasi-Fickian diffusion. The modelling data suggested that maybe more than one mechanism was involved for the release at 20 °C. The activation energy for releasing limonene from the electrospun polyvinyl alcohol-alginate encapsulation system was found to be 6.2 kJ mol–1 from the Arrhenius equation.