Formulation and fuzzy modelling of emulsion stability of Neroli essential oil, gum Arabic and maltodextrin

Abstract

The aim of this study was to formulation stable water in oil emulsions contain Neroli essential oil. Gum Arabic, maltodextrin and sucrose were used as coating materials for this essential oil in the emulsions. Emulsions were prepared by combining essential oils at three levels of 1.5%, 3% and 6% (w/w) and different concentrations of coating materials. In order to evaluate physical stability of the emulsions, the produced emulsions were kept at 4, 25 and 40 degrees C for a month period. According to the results, an increase in essential oil concentration results in a decrease in creaming index that is an indicator of the physical instability of oil-in-water emulsions. As storing temperature rises, although creaming index fell, but instead samples suffered from flocculation destabilization. By increasing gum Arabic concentration in the formulation of emulsions, creaming index decreased significantly (P<0.05). In addition, an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) was used to model and identify the properties of the produced emulsions with temperature and ratios. Comparing the results of experiments and ANFIS modeling determined that ANFIS can make a very satisfactory prediction, so it could be reduced the cost of design experiments by using it.