Micro-compounding is the mixing or processing of
polymer
A polymer () is a chemical substance, substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeat unit, repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their br ...
formulations in the melt on a small scale, typically milliliters. It is popular for
research and development
Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...
because it gives faster, more reliable results with smaller samples and less cost. Its applications include
pharmaceutical
Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...
,
biomedical
Biomedicine (also referred to as Western medicine, mainstream medicine or conventional medicine) , and
nutritional
Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food and water to support its life. The intake of these substances provides organisms with nutrients (divided into macro- and micro-) which can be metabolized t ...
areas.
Design
Micro-compounding is typically performed with a tabletop, twin screw micro-compounder, or micro-extruder with a working volume of 5 or 15 milliliters. With such small volumes, it is difficult to have sufficient mixing in a continuous extruder. Therefore, micro-compounders typically have a batch mode (recirculation) and a conical shape.
The L/D of a continuous
twin screw extruder is mimicked in a batch micro-compounder by the recirculation mixing time, which is controlled by a manual valve. With this valve, the recirculation can be interrupted to unload the formulation in either a strand or an
injection moulder, a film device or a fiber line. Typical recirculation times are one to three minutes, depending on the ease of dispersive and distributive mixing of the formulation.
Benefits
Micro-compounding can now produce films, fibers, and test samples (rods, rings, tablets) from mixtures as small as 5 ml in less than ten minutes. The small footprint requires less lab space than for a parallel twin screw extruder. One micro-extruder, developed to test whether drug delivery enabled improved bioavailability of poorly soluble drugs or the sustained release of
active ingredients
An active ingredient is any ingredient that provides biologically active or other direct effect in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease or to affect the structure or any function of the body of humans or animals.
...
show or require sensitive and water destroying invasives.
References
{{reflist
Polymer chemistry
Chemical processes