Bioengineering of Neem Colloidal Nano-Emulsion Formulation With Adjuvant for Better Surface Adhesion and Long Term Activity in Insect Control

The authors have requested that this preprint be withdrawn due to a need to make corrections.

The effect of process variables on the physical properties and microstructure of HOPO nanoemulsion flakes obtained by refractance window

Refractance window (RW) drying is considered an emerging technique in the food field due to its scalability, energy efficiency, cost and end-product quality. It can be used for obtaining flakes from high-oleic palm oil (HOPO) nanoemulsions containing a high concentration of temperature-sensitive active compounds. This work was thus aimed at studying the effect of temperature, thickness of the film drying, nanoemulsion process conditions, and emulsion formulation on the flakes’ physical properties and microstructure. The results showed that HOPO flakes had good physical characteristics: 1.4% to 5.6% moisture content and 0.26 to 0.58 aw. Regarding microstructure, lower fractal dimension (FDt) was obtained when RW drying temperature increased, which is related to more regular surfaces. The results indicated that flakes with optimal physical properties can be obtained by RW drying of HOPO nanoemulsions.

Rheological Characterization of Emulsified Bitumen from Industrial Waste

Emulsified bitumen is an aqueous mixture of bitumen and can be used in insulation and coating applications. In this study, used automotive oil was utilized as a component in bitumen emulsion formulation. Five formulations of bitumen emulsion comprising different ratios of neat bitumen and recycled automotive oil were formulated, namely EMB01–EMB05. The formulation utilized 1 g of abietic acid (C20H30O2) as an emulsifier. The formulated bitumen was characterized for penetration, softening point, differential scanning calorimetry, viscosity, and oscillatory test, and the results were compared to commercial bitumen emulsion (ATLAS bitumen emulsion). The results show that EMB05 has softer consistency, high viscosity, temperature susceptibility, higher thermal stability, and an adaptable viscoelastic range compared to other formulations that provide suitable properties for coating and insulation of wall waterproof material.

Development of Vernonia amygdalina Leaf Extract Emulsion Formulations in Controlling Gray Mold Disease on Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.)

Postharvest fruits including tomatoes are commonly infected by gray mold disease resulting in significant economic losses in the fruit industry. Therefore, this study aimed to develop botanical fungicide derived from Vernonia amygdalina leaf extract to control gray mold on tomato. The emulsion formulation containing surfactant, oil carrier and water was optimized at different non-ionic alkyl polyglucoside surfactants through eleven combinations of oil to surfactant ratio (0:10, 1:9, 2:8, 3:7, 4:6, 5:5, 6:4, 7:3, 8:2, 9:1 and 10:0 w/w). From eight selected formulations, two formulations, F5 and F7 showed stable in storage, remarkable thermodynamic stability, smaller particle size (66.44 and 139.63 nm), highly stable in zeta potential (−32.70 and −31.70 mV), low in polydispersity index (0.41 and 0.40 PdI), low in viscosity (4.20 and 4.37 cP) and low in surface tension (27.62 and 26.41 mN/m) as compared to other formulations. In situ antifungal activity on tomato fruits showed F5 formulation had a fungicidal activity against B. cinerea with zero disease incidence and severity, whereas F7 formulation reduced 62.5% disease incidence compared to a positive control with scale 1. Based on these findings, F5 formulation exhibited pronounced antifungal activity and may contribute to the development of new and safe antifungal product against gray mold on tomato.

Engineered PLGA-PVP/VA based formulations to produce electro-drawn fast biodegradable microneedles for labile biomolecule delivery

Biodegradable polymer microneedles (MNs) are recognized as non-toxic, safe and stable systems for advanced drug delivery and cutaneous treatments, allowing a direct intradermal delivery and in some cases a controlled release. Most of the microneedles found in the literature are fabricated by micromolding, which is a multistep thus typically costly process. Due to industrial needs, mold-free methods represent a very intriguing approach in microneedle fabrication. Electro-drawing (ED) has been recently proposed as an alternative fast, mild temperature and one-step strategy to the mold-based techniques for the fabrication of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) biodegradable MNs. In this work, taking advantage of the flexibility of the ED technology, we engineered microneedle inner microstructure by acting on the water-in-oil (W/O) precursor emulsion formulation to tune drug release profile. Particularly, to promote a faster release of the active pharmaceutical ingredient, we substituted part of PLGA with poly(1-vinylpyrrolidone-co-vinyl acetate) (PVP/VA), as compared to the PLGA alone in the matrix material. Moreover, we introduced lecithin and maltose as emulsion stabilizers. Microneedle inner structural analysis as well as collagenase entrapment efficiency, release and activity of different emulsion formulations were compared to reach an interconnected porosity MN structure, aimed at providing an efficient protein release profile. Furthermore, MN mechanical properties were examined as well as its ability to pierce the stratum corneum on a pig skin model, while the drug diffusion from the MN body was monitored in an in vitro collagen-based dermal model at selected time points.

Tar Removal from Gasification/Pyrolysis by Emulsion Liquid Membrane: A Short Overview

Tar is among undesirable by-products of producer gas generated from gasification/pyrolysis of biomass. Due to the erosive and corrosive characteristics of tar, a number of tar removal studies have been done. However, considering tar availability in deficient concentration, a highly selective and energy economics method is of importance. Emulsion liquid membrane is a choice of selective and economics method. Some studies on tar removal using emulsion liquid membrane were reported. Information about definition and transport mechanism of emulsion liquid membrane was given. Effects of emulsion formulation on tar removal were described. Effects of some operating conditions in permeation process on tar removal were also presented. The study found that types and concentration of surfactant and diluent as well as emulsification methods need to be properly considered for better result. Whereas permeation speed, volume ratio, and equipment used greatly affect the emulsion breaking and tar removal efficiency. Considering low emulsion breaking, application of Taylor-Couette column as the permeation equipment for further tar removal study is proposed.