Process design for online impregnation of solids with antibacterial lichen extracts after supercritical fluid extraction thereof

A. FANOVICH, J. IVANOVIC, I. ZIZOVIC, D.MISIC, F. MEYER, P. JAEGER, R. EGGERS

Karlsruhe

Congreso; 30th DECHEMA Annual Meeting of Biotechnologists and ProcessNet Annual Conference 2012; 2012

DECHEMA

Introduction of implants and aids into the human body is always associated with the risk of microbial infection . Multiplication and spreading of antibiotic resistant bacteria have led to increased interest in research on isolation of new natural antibacterial agents as well as production of new biomaterials with antibacterial properties . Supercritical CO2 (SC CO2) extraction has superior performances for isolating extracts from lichen Usnea barbata rich in usnic acid which has known to possess a wide spectrum of biological activities. Supercritical Usnea extracts have been shown to possess strong antibacterial activity against tested strains of staphylococci, enterococci and streptococci including methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains comparable to some common antibiotics. Since SC CO2  is not only known as a possible solvent for valuable compounds but also for its high diffusion ability in organic matter, the latter property can be used for impregnating solid matrices with natural antibacterial agent.Goals of the study:-SC CO2 extraction of active compunds from two types of Usnea lichens: influence of different pretreatments of lichen material on SFE intensification with respect to the extraction yield, composition and antibacterial activity-Production of new functionalized biomaterials: porous polycaprolactone (PCL) and polycaprolactone-hydroxyapatite (PCL-HA) composites scaffolds with antibacterial properties by an integrated SC CO2 extraction-impregnation process-Characterization of impregnated PCL and PCL-HA composite scaffolds