Bio-degradable Polymers
Biodegrable Polymers used in encapsulation have been OSA modified starches or other carbohydrates/Cellulosics
Bio-degradable polymers in microencapsulation is a new phenomenon. While modified Starches like octinyl succnic modified starches have been common in food, flavour and fragrance encapsulation, modified cellulosics are common in pharmaceuticals controlled release. One problem with Cellulosics has been solvent residues and solvent handling
Latest development in encapsulation with synthetic yet bio-degradable polymers has been with PLGA/PLA. Though due to their cost, their use is limited currently to pharma applications
Biodegradability has become the holy grail for encapsulation. Even though performance matching with non -biodegradable polymers has been elusive
Microencapsulation is all about building intelligence into chemicals thus giving better protection, better efficacy, better environmental release. It is like building artifical intelligence into chemicals using scientific and physical principles
Reasons for incorporating Bio-degradable Polymers
- while controlled release is a desirable attribute but more and more people are looking for environmental and sustainability causes.
- Some areas like food, pharma and even pesticides are now regulated in terms of what polymers can be used
- In certain applications the very nature of the release can be tailor-made only with certain polymers which are by defintion bio-degradabel e.g. colon release of pharmaceuticals
sensitization of user person. e.g., pesticides
Want to Read More?
While there is a lot of material online for microencapsulation using biodegradable polymers, a nice review is given here
Microencapsulation in Pharma Or Bio-degradable Polymers for Vaccines
These are only a few and a lot of material is available online
