Engineering micro particles

Microfluidics vs Membrane Emulsification vs Homogenisation

​Microfluidics

Microfluidics
​Microfluidics is a technique for the manufacture of particles of precisely the same size through the serial extrusion of droplets, giving almost perfect monodispersity in the creation of emulsions.  The drawback of the microfluidics approach is that, even when multiple microfluidic production units are harnessed in parallel, this method is not capable of delivering industrially meaningful volumes.

Micropore membrane
​emulsification

Membrane emulsification
Membrane emulsification, where droplets are formed by pushing a substance through a membrane, was first discovered by Nakashima and Shimizu in the late 1980s.  

Membrane emulsification quickly demonstrated many benefits in the laboratory but incomplete technology development in early embodiments held back practical application of the technique.  Commercial interest was also restricted because, as with microfluidics, there was no clear route to scale-up of the technology to industrially meaningful volumes.  However, the recent development of the technique by Micropore Technologies enabling the reliably processing of many thousand tonnes a year, this scale-up restriction has effectively been removed.

Homogenisation

Homogenisation
​​​Mechanical mixing, or homogenisation, has long been the industry standard for formulation of many products.  This technique comes in many guises and has been refined over many years of industrial experience for use in both low and high volume applications.  These refinements, are all based on the basic principle of a rapidly spinning blade to “break up” the disperse phase into the continuous phase.  As a result, this approach to forming emulsions is fundamentally uncontrolled, with a resulting disadvantages of broad particle size distribution and the potential for damage to delicate ingredients.

Membrane emulsification advantages over homogenisation
Emulsions prepared via membrane emulsification are inherently more stable, as all of the droplets are close to the same size, they will have the same buoyancy, reducing creaming or sedimentation.

• The membrane process uses much lower shear force and so it is more gentle, allowing processing of sensitive materials without damage.
• These emulsions can be post-processed and turned into microcapsules, delivery systems for a variety of actives. Each microcapsule will behave in exactly the same way, reducing variability upon rupture.
• Because membrane emulsification is a very controlled and highly engineered process a major advantage, compared with traditional methods, is significant reduction in waste and an improvement in on-specification product yield.

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​​Working with Micropore was a very positive experience for us.
​The speed with which we progressed reflects how user-friendly we found the Micropore equipment.

​Customer, food sector

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​We have achieved significantly improved production economics. We were initially sceptical as we had had problems when we’d tried membrane emulsification in the past.  Micropore has developed a truly elegant solution

Customer, ​household products

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​​We set aside a day for trials on the Micropore AXF-1.  We were finished in less than an hour with all trials completed satisfactorily.  We were surprised at how simple Micropore’s equipment is to set up and operate

​​Customer, fragrance sector

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​​Micropore’s precision engineered products mean we don’t have problems with creaming or phase inversion any more.  We are working to convert manufacture of all our products to Micropore’s approach because of the ease of operation/cleaning and improved yields

​​Customer, personal care sector

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We approached Micropore after failing with others because we needed to replicate an in-flight problem.  Micropore delivered everything we hoped for and more.  The result was we were able to engineer a solution for major safety improvements and rapid implementation

​​Customer, aerospace sector

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