TITLE Novel Procedure for Improving Encapsulation of Particulate Materials PRIMARY INVENTORS D. Julian McClements, Ph.D. and Eric Decker, Ph.D. DESCRIPTION Many industries use micro-encapsulation to convert liquid oil-in-water emulsions into powders containing particles that consist of oil droplets embedded in a solid wall material. The most common industrial technique used to accomplish this conversion is spray drying. The efficient production of high quality spray dried product depends on selection of the most appropriate spray drier design, operating conditions, and feed material. This invention improves the composition of the feed material used in spray drying, by improving the final properties of the powders produced and/or reducing the amount of solids required in the materials.   This novel invention improves the feed material by covering each individual oil droplet (or other type of particle) with a multilayer biopolymer membrane that is relatively thick and resistant to rupture prior to carrying out the drying process. These interfacial membranes can be designed to improve the economic, physicochemical and functional properties of the spray dried material. APPLICATIONS Industries such as drug, food, beverage, supplement, and personal care report problems associated with micro-encapsulation of functional ingredients, e.g., poor dispersibility, chemical degradation of functional ingredients, high product losses during production. ADVANTAGES Several features of this invention improve upon conventional spray dried material: 1. Reduces the amount of wall material required to create stable systems, which reduces the cost of the spray drying process. 2. Prevents destabilization of the material within the droplets during storage and application, e.g., lipid or flavor oxidation, which increases the shelf-life of the powder. 3. Prevents oil droplet aggregation before, during and after micro-encapsulation, which improves the quality of the powder. 4. Improves dispersibility of the powders. PATENT STATUS Patent pending LICENSING STATUS Available for licensing or research collaboration DOCKET UMA 05-22 NOTES FOR MORE INFORMATION Commercial Ventures & Intellectual Property University of Massachusetts Amherst 413-545-3606 cvip@research.umass.edu