Abstract
The aim of this article was to investigate the morphology, swelling properties, and respective drug release kinetics of vitamin B12-loaded calcium alginate beads prepared by oven (air), vacuum, and freeze drying. The initial particle size was 1 mm. The mean bead sizes of dried Ca-alginate beads were 0.7, 0.8, and 0.9 mm for oven-, vacuum-, and freeze-dried beads, respectively. The surface morphology of the dried beads was affected by the different drying methods applied. Oven- and vacuum-dried beads shrank in size, and more cracks appeared on the surface of oven-dried beads. Freeze-dried beads almost retained the same size prior to drying; however, the surface was rougher and highly porous. The swelling profiles were also affected by the drying methods, whereby freeze-dried beads showed the fastest solvent uptake at the start of the experiment. The release data of the dried Ca-alginate beads were treated with first-order, Higuchi, Korsmeyer, and Peppas kinetic models. The data for oven and vacuum seemed to follow a combination of diffusion and swelling controlled release, whereas data from freeze-dried beads seemed to follow more diffusion-dominated controlled release.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1258 - 1265 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Drying Technology |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2009 |