(80g) Preparation of Calcium Alginate Microbeads by Electrodispersion for Protein Drug Controlled Release

Calcium alginate hydrogel beads are prepared using our experimental setup, electrodispersion reactor. This is a simple and high efficiency approach by atomizing alginate and nanocalcium carbonate aqueous mixtures from a nozzle into an organic continuous phase in the presence of high electric field. This technique allows water-in-oil emulsions to be formed and a high fabrication efficiency of spherical gel beads with a mean size of less than 20 µm, high porosity and homogeneous structure were achieved with a minimum amount of agglomeration. Dependence of the electric field strength, the concentration of alginate, calcium carbonate and acetic acid and the flow velocity of both phases on the morphology of calcium alginate gel beads was assessed. Fluorescence microscopy and scanning election microscope were used to study the distribution of polymers and particle morphology. In addition, model proteins (Bovine serum albumin) are loaded into the calcium alginate microbeads for evaluation of drug encapsulation. The study of protein stability by FT-IR indicates great potential in controlled protein drug delivery application. As the electrodispersion procedures are easy to perform, this method can also be used for the synthesis of a variety of other polymers in other microencapsulation systems.