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Calcium Alginate Microbead Production Via An Air Assisted Shearing Process, Ryan Loftus
Calcium Alginate Microbead Production Via An Air Assisted Shearing Process, Ryan Loftus
Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects
The purpose of this project was to model the size of calcium alginate microbeads produced by extruding a solution of 1.5 wt.% alginate from a syringe and needle with air shear generated from a pneumatic line flowing in an annular tube around the extrusion needle. The air shear would create microdroplets that would fall into a solution of 2 wt.% calcium chloride in water, crosslinking the droplets into beads. These microbeads can be used in drug dispersion applications or in encapsulation of cells throughout the body due to their biocompatibility. The goal was to create uniform beads that ranged from …