Supercritical fluid technology
Our
lab specializes in supercritical fluid technology for extraction and
development of nanosized formulations using polymers and lipids. Solvents mainly
used for supercritical fluid extraction are carbon dioxide, water and ethane. Carbon dioxide is used most frequently compared to other
solvents, is well established as a green solvent and we have used it
extensively for our research and formulation development. The most important
parameters that affect the process of extraction are pressure, temperature,
solvent used, solute nature and percentage of co-solvent etc. As carbon dioxide
is a non-polar solvent it extracts mainly non-polar compounds. Advantages of employing supercritical fluids are - 1. Beneficial for the thermally labile compounds 2. Fast extraction process 3. Green process Our present work
on supercritical fluid extraction is on extraction of Wrightia tinctoria using
supercritical carbon dioxide. This plant show
anti-psoriatic activity and reported in many literature. Bio-actives that show
anti-psoriatic activity are triterpenoids and flavonoids. We are also working
with rapid expansion for supercritical solution (RESS) technology to develop
nano sized formulations for malaria therapy and brucellosis prevention.
Planetary ball milling Planetary ball mills are used wherever the highest
degree of fineness is required. Apart from the classical mixing and size
reduction processes, the mills also meet all the technical requirements for
colloidal grinding and have the energy input necessary for mechanical alloying
processes. The extremely high centrifugal forces of planetary ball mills
result in very high pulverization energy and therefore short grinding times. The
grinding jar is arranged eccentrically on the sun wheel of the planetary ball
mill. The direction of movement of the sun wheel is opposite to that of the
grinding jars in the ratio 1:1. The grinding balls in the grinding jars are
subjected to superimposed rotational movements, the so-called Coriolis forces.
The difference in speeds between the balls and grinding jars produces an
interaction between frictional and impact forces, which releases high dynamic
energies. The interplay between these forces produces the high and very
effective degree of size reduction of the planetary ball mill. Applications- 1. Grinding and mixing of dry powders 2. Mixing of semisolids like creams and ointments 3. Particle size reduction up to nano size (100 nm) without
using of organic solvent
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