Role of supercritical CO2 impregnation variables on β-carotene loading into corn starch aerogel particles

β-carotene is a natural dye with antioxidant and provitamin A activities, which has essential roles in human health. However, its direct use in food products is unviable since it is susceptible to oxidation, easily isomerization under light, heat or acids, and has low water solubility and oral bioavailability. To address this issue, this work reports, for the first time, the impregnation of β-carotene into corn starch aerogels using supercritical carbon dioxide (sc-CO2). The aerogel particles were produced by the emulsion-gelation method, dried by sc-CO2 and loaded with β-carotene by sc-CO2 impregnation. The impacts of pressure (15 and 30 MPa), temperature (40 and 60 °C), average depressurization rate (0.25–2.61 MPa/min), and cycles (1−4) were investigated on loading. Excepting depressurization rate, all variables played fundamental roles in loading, reaching a maximum of 0.96 mg β-carotene/g aerogel (30 MPa, 40 °C, 0.40 MPa/min, four cycles).