456361 Towards Large Scale Production of Core-Shell Microparticles: Multi-Scale Modelling and Experimental Studies

Tuesday, November 15, 2016: 2:29 PM
Golden Gate (Hotel Nikko San Francisco)
Wei-Cheng Yan, Yen Wah Tong and Chi-Hwa Wang, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

Core-shell microspheres exhibiting great advantages in drug delivery can be produced by coaxial electrohydrodynamic atomization (CEHDA) process. Through this process, uniform size distribution and high drug encapsulation efficiency can be achieved. However, this process shows a monotonic dependence of droplet size on flow rate, therefore the mass flow rate is extremely low if small particles are desired. As a result, the productivity is limited by the low flow rate. Multi-nozzle spraying would be indispensable to overcome the drawback of the low throughput. On the other hand, CEHDA is a complex process including multiphysics and multiscale sub-process. In this study, to simulate the multiscale CEHDA process including the cone-jet formation, droplet formation, solvent evaporation, spraying, and deposition, a multi-scale model (hybrid CFD-PBM-DPM model) was developed. Multi-nozzle coaxial electrohydrodynamic atomization (MCEHDA) was investigated by the developed multi-scale model and experiment. The interaction and deposition pattern of multi-nozzle electrosprays were studied. In addition, the structures of the core-shell microparticle in different regions were analysed. The effects of the distances among the nozzles for different nozzle array configurations were also investigated. The developed multi-scale model can conveniently guide the design and operation of multi-nozzle electrosprays for a large scale production of core-shell microparticles.

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