Preparation and characterization of oleogel-in-water pickering emulsions stabilized by cellulose nanocrystals

An oleogel-in-water Pickering emulsion was prepared and characterized. Soybean oil was structured with beeswax (BW) in making the oleogel. Then the oleogel was stabilized with cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) in preparing the oleogel-in-water Pickering emulsion. Overall, emulsions with good storage stability were obtained in a wide range of BW concentration, oleogel fraction, and CNCs concentration. The Pickering mechanism was demonstrated by the confocal laser scanning microscopy. An increase of beeswax concentration from 2.0 to 15.0% (w/v) and oleogel fractions from 0.10 to 0.40 led to an increase in droplet size, viscosity, and gel strength of emulsion. Increased CNCs concentration from 0.10 to 0.90% (w/v) caused a decrease of droplet size, and a rise in viscosity and gel strength. The emulsions demonstrated a melting behavior that can be tuned by varying the droplet size of emulsion. The findings are useful in designing novel emulsions for food applications.