Supercritical fluid technologies precipitation methods

Nanocapsules act like a reservoir, which are called vesicular systems. They carry the active substance entrapped in the solid polymeric membrane or on their surfaces. The cavily inside contains either oil or water. A schematic diagram of Polymer Nanocapsules is shown in Fig. 9.2 [5], There are different methods that are used nowadays to prepare polymeric nanoparticles, such as nanoprecipitation (also termed as the solvent diffusion and solvent displacement method), solvent evaporation, dialysis, microemulsion, surfactant-free emulsion, salling-out, supercritical fluid technology, and interfacial polymerization [2]. Among these methods, nanoprecipitation is a fast and simple process, which does not require a pre-prepared polymer emulsion before the nanoparticle preparation. It produces a dispersion of nanoparticles by precipitation of preformed hydrophobic polymer solution. Under... 

The supercritical fluid mefhod is a relafively new method, which can minimize the use of organic solvents and harsh manufacturing conditions taking advantage of two distinctive properties of supercritical fluids (i.e., high compressibility and liquid-like density). This method can be broadly divided into two parts rapid expansion of supercritical solutions (RESS), which utilizes the supercritical fluid (e.g., carbon dioxide) as a solvent for the polymer, " and supercritical antisolvent crystallization (SAS), using the fluid as an antisolvent that causes polymer precipitation. Recent reviews of the supercritical technology for particle production are available in the literature. ... 

Supercritical fluid extraction of emulsions (SFEE) is a combination of the conventional emulsion precipitation process with the SAS processes. This process emerges as a solution for several of the drawbacks of each separated technology. Conventional emulsion precipitation methods involve large quantities of organic solvents and their removal requires additional separation techniques that commonly need high temperatures and high cost. On the other hand, as shown in Table 24.1 by SAS process, often it is not possible to obtain particle sizes within the nanometric scale and the products can present agglomeration problems. 

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