Rational construction of citrus essential oil nanoemulsion with robust stability and high antimicrobial activity based on combination of emulsifiers

We have successfully constructed citrus essential oil (CEO, d-limonene is its main active component) nanoemulsion by the high-pressure homogenization method, whose droplet size, polydispersity index, and zeta potential were 34.23 nm, 0.235, and −25.87 mV, respectively. The effects of thermal treatment (−20–48 °C), pH (5–9), ionic strength (100–500 mM NaCl) and storage time (200 days) were examined on the physicochemical properties of all treatments. The antimicrobial activity of nanoemulsion was tested by determining the minimal inhibitory concentration against the four foodborne microorganisms (Escherichia coli (10 mg/mL), Staphylococcus aureus (0.150 mg/mL), Bacillus subtilis (0.312 mg/mL) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (0.312 mg/mL)). Especially, compared with pure CEO, the antibacterial activity of its nanoemulsion against S. aureus (0.150 mg/mL) and B. subtilis (0.312 mg/mL) was increased by 43 and 86 times respectively. Industrial relevance: In this work, we constructed robust CEO nanoemulsions based on a combination of emulsifiers via the high-pressure homogenization method, which bring new insights into the preparation of nanoemulsions. There is great potential for nanoencapsulation of natural compounds in the field of food preservation. Furthermore, the results may provide valuable data for industrial scale-up application.