Programme
08:50 Registration
09:25 Welcome introduction – Simon Gibbon
Session 1 - Chair David Higgins
09:30 Continuous production of biopolymer based encapsulates
Prof Janet Scott | University of Bath
10:10 Surface Energy Properties of Soluplus by Inverse Gas Chromatography
Majid Naderi | Surface Measurement Systems
10:30 Advanced methods of droplet generation using complex low-cost microfluidic
devices in glass
Klaus Kadel | Little Things Factory, Germany
10:50 Coffee break / networking / posters
Poster presenters - David Brossault, Yuxiu Chen, Tymèle Deydier, Haowei Huang, Nachal Subramanian, Phuong Linh Ta
Session 2 - Chair Martin Fallows
11:20 Novel means of encapsulation route using a membrane emulsification process at
elevated temperatures
Prof David York | University of Leeds
12:00 Effective Encapsulation of Pre-Cursor Compounds for Oxidative Antimicrobial
Chemotherapy
Francesco Di Maggio | GAMA Healthcare
12:20 Exhibitor highlights
12:30 Lunch / Networking / FSTG AGM
Session 3 - Chair Marijana Dragosavac
14:00 Occlusion of oil droplets within calcite crystals
Prof Steven Armes | University of Sheffield
14:40 Encapsulation Using Dripping: From Fundamental to Industrial Production
Denis Poncelet | EncapProcess, France
15:00 Lecithin Microcapsule Production using the CDDM
Daniel Harvey | University of Liverpool
15:20 The role of nanoparticles on liquid mixture properties in the presence of shear and
temperature gradients
Antonis Sergis | Imperial College London
15:40 Coffee / Networking
Session 4 - Chair Vitaliy Khutoryanskiy
16:00 Encapsulation technologies for self-healing in cementitious systems
Prof Abir Al-Tabbaa | University of Cambridge
16:40 Multifunctional Self-healing Materials Based on Nanocapsules for Arctic Region
Exploration
Dmitry Shchukin | University of Liverpool
17:00 Networking with festive mulled wine
18:00 Close
Speakers Abstracts
PROF JANET SCOTT | UNIVERSITY OF BATH
Continuous production of biopolymer based encapsulates
Amy Wilson,a Rachael Hutchings,b Ekanem Ekanem,c Davide Mattia,c Karen J. Edler,b Janet L. Scotta
a Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies and Department of Chemistry, University of Bath, Claverton Down Bath, BA2 7AY, United Kingdom
b EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Chemical Technologies, University of Bath, Claverton Down Bath, BA2 7AY, United Kingdom
c Centre for Advanced Separations Engineering and Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Bath, Claverton Down Bath, BA2 7AY, United Kingdom
Beads or capsules can be produced by membrane emulsification as a low energy, continuous manufacturing process that yields products with narrow particle size distribution. Filled capsules, or encapsulates, prepared from renewable, biopolymers offer opportunities for production of biodegradable encapsulates, thus potentially eliminating a small, but unnecessary, source of plastic pollution. Developing the materials and the production process in tandem leads to a combination of chemistry and processes that are compatible and readily scalable.
MAJID NADERI | SURFACE MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS
Surface Energy Properties of Soluplus by Inverse Gas Chromatography
Majid Naderi, Daniel Burnett, Armando Garcia and Meishan Guo
Surface Measurement Systems Ltd., 5 Wharfside, Alperton, London, UK
Soluplus®, a polymeric solubilizer comprised of polyethylene glycol, polyvinyl caprolactam and polyvinyl acetate (PEG/PVCp/PVAc), has been designed to enhance the solubility of poorly soluble drugs using the solid solution/dispersion approach. Soluplus is an amorphous graft copolymer with a low glass transition temperature (Tg), low hygroscopicity and high solubility in water and organic solvents, which offers advantages over cellulose based and/or PVP based excipients by increasing the solubility of insoluble drugs in the form of solid solution/dispersion. The solubility/miscibility of polymers with drugs has been investigated by different approaches. Some of these methods require a complete understanding of the chemical structure or composition of the polymer and drug, and often lead to inaccurate results. In contrast, IGC provides accurate values of solubility parameters without requiring the polymer structure or composition. Inverse gas chromatography Surface Energy Analyzer (IGC SEA) was used to examine surface energy properties, including dispersive surface energy, specific surface energy, and free energy of desorption for several polar solvents. In addition, solubility parameters of Soluplus and the extrudate with carbamazepine as a model Class II drug were determined.
KLAUS KADEL | LITTLE THINGS FACTORY
Advanced methods of droplet generation using complex low-cost microfluidic devices in glass
Klaus Kadel, Alexander Schilling
Little Things Factory, D-56479 Elsoff, GERMANY
This work describes recent innovations in the field of laser etching in glass and the application of this technology, to realize planar droplet generators using 3-D shaped nozzles. The channels inside the nozzles has been etched to different levels into the bottom layer and similar into the top layer. Six layers has been used in the bottom layer and in the top layer to define the inlet nozzle and the outlet nozzle. Both layers have been welded precisely together to create the nozzles and to finalize the chip.
Image will be in the abstract book -
Fig. 1: Inlet nozzle with the red arrow and the outlet nozzle in blue. The sheath flow is indicated with black arrows. Every line in the photograph is indicating the step to another depth level in the channel of the nozzles.
As expected from this layout, the droplet diameter could be modified over the flow rate in the range from 60µm to 250µm. The setup allows various applications from flow chemistry to the trapping and manipulation of cells in flow.
PROF DAVID YORK | UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS
Novel means of encapsulation route using a membrane emulsification process at elevated temperatures
David York, University of Leeds
Micro encapsulation synthesis routes often involve carrying out chemical reactions to form the wall which drive up manufacturing costs. In addition these limit the choice of materials that can be used for food products. A novel process has been developed that involves making a water in oil in water double emulsion in a controlled manner using membrane emulsification. By running the process at elevated temperatures high melting point materials, such as waxes, can be used to form the emulsion which, on cooling form a solid encapsulate wall.
This provides the opportunity for triggered release in consumer products as well as encapsulated additives in food.
PROF ABIR AL-TABBAA | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Encapsulation technologies for self-healing in cementitious systems
Prof Abir Al-Tabbaa, Dr Livia Souza and Dr Chrysoula Litina. | University of Cambridge
The presentation will provide an overview of the various encapsulation techniques that have been developed and explored at the University of Cambridge over the past six year to develop self-healing systems for applications in cementitious materials. Microencapsulated technologies presented will include interfacial polymerisation, complex coacervation, microfluidics and memberane emulsification.
Macroencapsulation techniques will include palletisation, hydrogels and spray coating. Applications include civil and environmental applications in concrete, mortars, grout and cemented soil systems. The talk will cover the context, techniques and challenges faced and provide examples of research done to date and recent commercial trials and applications.
PROF STEVEN ARMES | UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD
Occlusion of oil droplets within calcite crystals
Steven Armes | University of Sheffield
It is axiomatic that oil and water do not mix. Similarly, the efficient incorporation of oil within inorganic crystals is highly counter-intuitive because such components are normally considered to be mutually incompatible. Nevertheless, herein we report the efficient occlusion of nano-sized oil droplets within calcite single crystals. First, sterically-stabilized diblock copolymer nanoparticles were prepared via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) dispersion polymerization in methanol. These nanoparticles undergo dissociation during high-pressure microfluidization to produce strongly amphiphilic polymeric surfactants that stabilize oil-in-water nanoemulsions. Formation of calcite in the presence of such oil droplets at pH 9 leads to their efficient occlusion. Both copolymer concentration and diblock compositions affect the extent of occlusion, with optimized conditions producing calcite crystals containing up to 30 vol% oil as judged by thermogravimetry. The generic nature of our approach is exemplified by occlusion of various oils. In principle, this provides a versatile route for the incorporation of a wide range of oil-soluble hydrophobic molecules within host crystals for encapsulation and controlled release applications.
RICHARD DAY | UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Effective Encapsulation of Pre-Cursor Compounds for Oxidative Antimicrobial Chemotherapy
Francesco Di Maggio1,2, Dharmit Mistry1, Kathryn Farthing1, Adrian Fellows1, Richard M. Day2*
1Fellows Research Centre, GAMA Healthcare Ltd, UK ; 2Centre for Precision Healthcare, UCL Division of Medicine, University College London, UK
Antibiotic-resistance requires new therapeutic approaches. Polymer microparticles that provide controlled release of oxidative species could provide an effective broad spectrum approach for treating localized infection, such as venous leg ulcers. We propose that controlled release of a peroxygen donor, such as sodium percarbonate combined with an acetyl donor, such as tetraacetylethylenediamine, from microparticles will deliver antimicrobial activity via a dynamic equilibrium mixture of hydrogen peroxide and peracetic acid. However, challenges exist with the conventional microparticle fabrication techniques and controlled delivery of these compounds due to their rapid decomposition in aqueous environments. Furthermore, these compounds exhibit toxicity if the mode of delivery is not well controlled. We have developed a novel approach for encapsulating these compounds into biodegradable microparticles using thermally induced phase separation. Our approach provides a robust method for achieving high loading efficiencies of the pre-cursor compounds sodium percarbonate and tetraacetylethylenediamine and controlled delivery of the oxidative species hydrogen peroxide and peracetic acid in efficacious quantities, whilst avoiding unacceptable tissue damage. Using this method to achieve the controlled delivery of oxidative biocides could provide a range of new therapeutic products to combat infection without the use of antibiotics.
DENIS PONCELET | ENCAPPROCESS
ENCAPSULATION USING DRIPPING: FROM FUNDAMENTAL TO INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION
Denis Poncelet
EncapProcess, Sucé sur Erdre, France
Encapsulation using a dripping technologies consists in extruding a liquid drop-by-drop from a nozzle and collecting the droplets in a solidification bath. Versatile, simple, powerful, biocompatible are some of reasons why these technologies encounter a great success. The contribution will focus on how to proceed to get homogeneous droplet size from laboratory to industrial scale.
Simple drop-by-drop provides droplets of 2 to 3 mm. To reduce the size, the easier solution is to applied an electrostatic potential to the needle. The size may then be reduced to a few hundreds micrometres. This is the option often applied for biomedical applications. However, for larger production, the jet regime is preferred either applying an optimum frequency vibration or cutting the jet with a rotating wheel.
For real large throughput, the system has to be developed as continuous process, allowing to make up to hundred tons per year. The solidification liquid has to be recycled, including re-equilibrating the solution based either on mass balance or sensor measurements.
The dripping technologies are really versatile as examples will be provided. They look simple but to really provide a high quality and controlled products, one have to respect rules which are not always known or understand correctly. The contribution will try to make a clear state-of-art of these technologies.
DANIEL HARVEY | UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL
Lecithin Microcapsule Production using the CDDM
Daniel H S Harvey1, Alexandra Whittaker1, John Mills1 and Dmitry Shchukin2
1 Ultra Mixing and Processing Facility, University of Liverpool, Liverpool UK L69 7ZD
2 Stephenson Institute For Renewable Energy, University of Liverpool, Liverpool UK L69 7ZD
Lecithin microcapsules and nanocapsules are generally created on small-scale (< 500 mL) using ultrasonic mixers. This work looks to report the findings from the use of the Controlled Deformation Dynamic Mixer (CDDM), a new and novel rotor-stator mixer, on the scale-up production of lecithin microcapsules and nanocapsules to quantities suitable for industrial pilot-plant production (> 100 kg/h); all-the-while endeavouring to maintain the properties of the capsules as if they were produced using small-scale ultrasonic mixing. There is concern using lecithin and non-static mixers as it is a substance known to polymerise, however multiple trials have been performed, and the methodology monitored rigorously to ensure that this would not occur during high-shear mixing with the CDDM. Discussion in this work is given to the formation of liposomes using ultrasonic mixing and high-shear mixing techniques, as well as the benefits of their production. This work highlights the opportunities that the CDDM has to offer to encapsulation, formulation and mixing experts.
ANTONIS SERGIS | IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON
The role of nanoparticles on liquid mixture properties in the presence of shear and temperature gradients
Antonis Sergis, Yannis Hardalupas
The Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
Nanofluids are stable suspensions of nanoparticles (<100nm in size, <5% vol. concentrations) in usual coolants (e.g. water, ethylene glycol etc.) that have experimentally exhibited anomalous heat transfer phenomena since their discovery in the mid-nineties. Nanofluids might hold the key to a step change improvement of the heat management process across a multitude of sectors (industrial, commercial and domestic processes). However, there is a lack of understanding of the physical mechanisms giving rise to their thermal properties and, as such, a lack of necessary optimisation that could lead to practical applications. The work describes fundamental studies around the rheological and thermal behaviour of nanofluids using experimental and molecular dynamic simulation tools respectively. An isothermal laser diagnostics experiment has been performed to identify the rheological behaviour of dilute nanofluids inside a bound flow. It was discovered that nanofluids exhibited shear-thinning behaviour that could not be predicted using classical thermodynamics. The molecular dynamics simulations modelled nanoparticles inside a liquid domain with an applied temperature gradient. The computational results indicated departure from classical thermodynamics with the nanoparticle exhibiting stochastic increased mobility effects. In addition, the results indicated the absence of strong non-stochastic thermophoretic effects as those predicted by classical theory.
DMITRY G SHCHUKIN | UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL
Multifunctional Self-healing Materials Based on Nanocapsules for Arctic Region Exploration
Elena M. Shchukina, Dmitry G. Shchukin*
Stephenson Institute for Renewable Energy, University of Liverpool, L69 7ZF, Liverpool, UK
Nanocapsules possessing the ability to release encapsulated active materials (e.g., corrosion inhibitors, antimicrobial agents, thermal energy storage materials or all of them together) in a controlled way can be employed to develop a new family of self-repairing/responsive multifunctional materials, especially as coatings for steel, magnesium and aluminium protection. The current focus of the presentation is the possibility to employ the approaches for the coatings to be used in the arctic region, which is very important for exploration considering the global warming tendency. The release of the encapsulated active agents occurs only when triggered, which prevents leakage of the active agents out of the coating and increases coating efficiency. This report covers principles and recent developments in the fabrication of the nanocapsules with good compatibility with the commercial matrix components, the possibility to encapsulate and upkeep active material, and permeability properties of the shell controlled by external stimuli for arctic region conditions. Besides, the efficiency of the use of nanocapsule mixtures was demonstrated, especially for different types of the encapsulated active agents.