Alginate Bead Drug

Release
By Team J4: Imagineers
CJ Courtney – Coding
Andy Simonson – Testing
Emily Mei – Testing
Introduction
• Objectives asked:
 Create an apparatus to produce beads according to the following specifications:
 Continuously process about 10mL of beads from alginate and CaCl 2 solutions
 Separate the created beads and CaCl 2 solution
 Recycle the CaCl2 solution to minimize waste
 Determine overall effectiveness of produced beads
 Python Image Analysis
 Determine diameters and eccentricities of beads
 Simulated Stomach Testing
 Obtain V infinity using liquid solution used to soak beads
 Pump solution of water and beads through spectrophotometer to get effectiveness of mass
transfer
Apparatus & Methods Slide 1, Bead Creation

• Pumped 6% (wt.) CaCl up to

funnel
• Dripped Alginate in the middle of
funnel once steady state
• Beads collected in cup on left

24 in (H)
7 in (L)

7 in (W)

Fig. 1 Photo of Bead Producing Apparatus Fig. 2 Illustration of Bead Producing Apparatus
Apparatus & Methods Slide 2, Release Data

Dr. Kyle In the 'Stomach'

• Drug Release Data
Spectrophotometer
• 121 beads (2.183 g)
Pump • 40 mL of Water
• C (infinity)
• 2 g of 0.1% (wt.) Allura Red
Entering stream Exiting Flow Cell Stream • 40 mL of Water

Data Collection
1. Ran the pump and stir bar
Mesh
Impromptu Stand 2. Python collect data (as a csv file)
with spectrophotometer's flow cell
Beaker/Stomach
Stir-Plate

Fig. 3 Photo of Apparatus for Drug Release

Results Slide 1, Bead Morphological Data

Fig. 4 Raw Photograph                     Fig. 5 Tagged Image Object

• Our average bead diameter was right on the

desired goal of 2 to 4 mm. Objective was
met.

• The roundness of our beads averaged more

of an oval shape. This could have been due Fig. 6 Graph of Eccentricities and Bead Diameter

to our creation process.  Bead Diameter Average, Standard Deviation: 3.83 mm, 0.318
Bead Eccentricity Average, Standard Deviation: 0.697, 0.127
Results slide 2, Drug Release Data

Fig. 7 Graph of the Fraction of Drug Release, Peppas Fit, and Simulation Fit
Conclusion
• Effectiveness and Quality vs Other Team
 Effectiveness of Process – Device was effective in producing consistent alginate beads
 Quality of Beads – While the beads were consistent, the size is a little larger and more
eccentric.

• Simulation vs Data
 The simulation data and the actual data are very similar.  A distinct difference could not be
discerned.

• Improvements to be made
 A different drop height to have less eccentricity to the beads
 Use a bigger tub to catch the Calcium Chloride solution
Code/Spreadsheets
• For our histograms and analysis of the bead diameters and eccentricities we used excel.

The excel sheets used for data analysis are attached to the Canvas submission.