H. Brandenberger et F. Widmer, A NEW MULTINOZZLE ENCAPSULATION IMMOBILISATION SYSTEM TO PRODUCE UNIFORM BEADS OF ALGINATE/, Journal of biotechnology, 63(1), 1998, pp. 73-80
A new multinozzle system with 13 nozzles for the encapsulation and imm
obilisation of micro-organisms, enzymes or cells is presented. Based o
n the laminar jet break-up, monodisperse beads of calcium alginate are
produced under sterile and reproducible conditions in the range of 0.
2-1 mm. An in situ cleaning of the nozzles is implemented in order to
guarantee several batch process cycles and a productivity of up to 500
0 mi h(-1). Beads were analysed and showing that the relative differen
ce of the mean diameter of the different nozzles was less than 0.3% an
d the coefficient of variance (CV) of the beads were from 1.94 to 2.93
mu m which means that there are less than 4% of error droplets with d
ouble volume produced in the collective. This system has potential app
lications in the fields of food technology, pharmaceuticals, biotechno
logy and medicine. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.