Design of pH-Induced complex coacervates of gelatin and wattle.

Complex coacervation between gelatin and wattle, for microencapsulation of oil, to use in leather industry applications. • Complex coacervation of two naturally occurring polymers -gelatin and wattle are designed. • optimum conditions for maximum coacervate yield of 65 obtained with wattle:gelatin ratio of 2:1 at pH 4.2. • The study provides a methodology for design of suitable wall materials for industrial applications such as leather and adhesives. Complex coacervation of two naturally occurring polymers is crucial in design of wall materials, particularly in the food and related industry. This work presents an analysis of the complex coacervate yield of two oppositely charged polymers, viz., gelatin and wattle varying parameters like pH, polymeric mass ratio, and total biopolymer concentration through zeta potential and turbidity measurements. Results show that for the boundary conditions employed in the study, maximum coacervate yield (65 ± 0.9 %) was for wattle:gelatin ratio of 2:1, pH 4.2. At 2.2 ± 0.1 g of wattle/ g of gelatin, large micron-sized aggregates with polydispersity index of 1 have been obtained. Turbidity of the dispersion is inversely proportional to coacervate yield and has been optimized at a total biopolymer concentration of 3% at a wattle to gelatin mass ratio of 2 for applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]