Southwest Research Institute

San Antonio,  TX 
United States
http://microencapsulation.swri.org

• Booth: 5072

SwRI is an independent, nonprofit contract R&D organization and a recognized leader in the field of encapsulation with more than 70 years of research and development experience ranging from proof-of-concept to production. SwRI has conducted thousands of different encapsulation, micronization, and particle engineering projects for numerous clients, spanning a wide variety of application areas. To further support the sponsored programs, SwRI also maintains an in-house program to investigate new encapsulation concepts and improve existing technologies. Institute personnel are experienced in more than two dozen encapsulation processes, including atomization, spray coating, coextrusion, chemical emulsion-based methods, and nanoencapsulation techniques to produce capsules with sizes from tens of nanometers to several millimeters. Thousands of materials are available using these techniques to formulate capsules with a wide variety of release mechanisms. The encapsulation technique and formulation selected is based on the needs of the specific application.

SwRI recently added several new unique capabilities to our contract R&D portfolio. The first addition is a PolarDry Model 004 electrostatic spray dryer. This unit is ideal for spray drying materials, such as bioactive materials, in an inert environment at a low temperature. Second, we added a new inert gas lab-scale spray dryer. This technique is well suited for fluid bed granulation or coating of air-sensitive materials, such as nutritional oils. The equipment uses a glass chamber, allowing for easy viewing of the fluid bed process. A third addition is a high throughput membrane emulsification system. The AXF-1 from Micropore Technologies can prepare mono-dispersion emulsions at up to 200 L/hr. The final addition is a new microfluidic chip-based system from Dolomite for the preparation of monodisperse droplet and double emulsions. The versatility of this double- and single-emulsion system facilitates the evaluation and preparation of droplets with precise size and composition. 

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