Applications of Mass and Heat Transfer in Microencapsulation Processes

The focus of this chapter is to introduce the concept of transport phenomena while explaining the physics of diffusion, heat required for melting, and the rate of dissolution of microspheres and microcapsules. Because the concept of diffusion is fundamental to this part of the release system for which we plan to design our microencapsulated formulations, we have singled out mass transport from the concept of heat transfer to establish an understanding of complex systems. Because the concepts of heat transfer are analogous to mass transfer, similarities between the concepts will be highlighted. To gain a better insight into mass transfer problems of microencapsulated food product systems, one will need a combination of experimental investigations and mathematical modeling. The model used in this chapter should be used as a predictive tool and should not be in lieu of experiments to assess the release profile or product stability. Establishing a foundation in mass transfer concepts will allow the engineering intuition needed to design microencapsulated systems to be built.