Spray-dried Prodigiosin from Serratia marcescens As A colorant

Encapsulation technique via spray drying can be employed to enhance the natural pigment's properties. In this study, spray-dried microparticles containing red pigment (prodigiosin) extracted from Serratia marcescens was produced using κ-carrageenan and maltodextrin as encapsulation agents. The effect of spray-drying parameters on the encapsulation yield (EY), particle size and color intensity of the prodigiosin microcapsules were studied. The most intense color was obtained at a 1:1 ratio (volume ratio of prodigiosin in ethyl acetate to κ-carrageenan solution) with a 200°C inlet temperature, a feed flow rate of 60 m3/h, a pressure of 1.5 bars and a feed rate of 3 mL/min. The characterization of spray-dried prodigiosin using FTIR and FESEM confirmed that the particles were properly coated with encapsulating agents and pigment morphology showed that the particles were regular shaped spheres. The results suggest that the spray-dried prodigiosin can be useful as a colorant under the above optimum operating conditions.