Creation of Capsules and Droplets Using High Throughput Manufacturing Methods
In recent years, we have developed membrane emulsification processes as a means of producing monodisperse emulsions and multiple emulsions. The goal was to enable a scaleable precision manufacturing process [Williams, RA; Peng, SJ; Wheeler, DA; Morley, NC; Taylor, D; Whalley, M; et al., Chem. Eng. Res. Des. 1998; 76, A:902]. New applications for developing scaleable methods emerged based on variations of membrane processes including the concept of a rotating membrane reactor [Vladisavljevic, GT and Williams, RA; Advances in Colloid and Interface Science, 113, 2005, pp. 1-20][Vladisavljevic, GT and Williams, RA; Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 299, 1, 2006, pp. 396-402] that could be deployed to make emulsions, capsules and other structured materials. In this presentation, we illustrate the application of membrane systems to enable the design and production of particulate populations with well-defined properties. Examples based on capsule systems will be illustrated. The manufacturing methods offer significant versatility – an example based on integration of membrane process within an oscillatory baffled reactor is one example of this.