ANALYTICAL AND LABORATORY EQUIPMENT 17


“The food industry has been by far the biggest benefactor of the technology. ”


Fig. 2. Real-time image of microcapsules being produced by a Buchi vibration technology Encapsulator.


Successful application of microencapsulation to such a variety of process requires a production technique which must adhere to stringent criteria, especially for medical and biotechnological applications1. One such technique, commonly referred to as vibrating- nozzle procedure, is available and can be performed on the vibration technology Encapsulator produced by BUCHI Labortechnik AG. Tis production technique has gained significant interest from


manufacturers and scientific researchers on account of its ability to produce small, mono-dispersed, homogenous microcapsules and particles with a narrow size distribution. In addition it is easy to set up and operate, has low operating costs and can be integrated into a GMP process. For these reasons it is one of the most commonly employed techniques to produce microcapsules at lab-scale1


. Te most important criteria for any


microcapsule production technique is the ability to scale-up the process to produce higher quantities of particles, without incurring a significant change in capsule properties. Te new Buchi multi-nozzle Encapsulator that has six separate nozzles achieves such a goal, and further increases in production volumes can be simply achieved by adding more nozzles1


.


Te simplistic nature of the Buchi Encapsulator should further improve and expand applications of the technology in many fields, which to- date hasn’t been possible due to the unavailability of suitable production techniques to produce the required


References: 1


microcapsules. Tis should lead to the establishment of new products, improvement of existing ones, or in some cases completely redefine the role of a commodity. In addition as expressed by many international experts in medicine and biotechnology, further developments in microencapsulation also has the potential to help scientists to make breakthroughs in treating many diseases.


Enter 17 or ✔ at www.scientistlive.com/eurolab


Philipp John is Product Group Manager Spray Drying, BÜCHI Labortechnik AG, Flawil, Switzerland. www.buchi.com


Whelehan et al, J Microencapsulation, 28, 669-688 (2011); 2 Strand et al, Fundamentals of Cell Immobilisation Biotechnology,


Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht (2004); 3


Park et al, Polym Adv Technol; 9: 734-739 (1998); 4 Visted et al, Neuro-Oncology; 3: 201-210 (2001);


5 San Jose. A Global Strategic Business Report. Global Industry Analysts


Inc. (2010); 6


Fig. 3. The many different types of capsules, adaptable for numerous applications, produced by the Buchi Encapsulator.


Whelehan et al, Water Res, 44, 2314-2324 (2010); 7 Whelehan et al, Biotechnol. Prog., 27, 1068-1077 (2011) . www.scientistlive.com


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