Development of Antibacterial Composite Scaffolds Against MRSA by Using An Integrated Supercritical CO2 Process

M. A. FANOVICH, J. IVANOVIC, I. ZIZOVIC, D. MISIC, P. T. JAEGER

Belgrado

Simposio; 6th International Symposium on High Pressure Processes Technology; 2013

6th International Symposium on High Pressure Processes Technology

This work deals with integrated processes using carbon dioxide in supercritical conditions for the development of functionalized materials. The basics of the involved process units are presentedin order to allow a general understanding and for enabling to extend the designto a variety of applications. A conceptual design is proposed by integrating three steps for producing scaffolds with antibacterial properties. A setup for an integrated supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) extraction of natural compounds with posterior impregnation on solid matrices is described in detail including a final step of foaming as a way of product formulation by use of the same supercritical fluid as being used for the prior extraction and impregnation step. The strategy followed is based on minimizing the loss of extract mass in the tubes, vessels and heat exchangers of the equipment by directly using the scCO2-extract solution for impregnation, avoiding the low efficiency of extract recovery and energy consumption in a separation step by pressure reduction. The results on production of functionalized polycaprolactone scaffolds with natural compounds extracted from Patagonian Usnea lichen are presented. In order to establish appropriate operating conditions for each of the processing steps, supercritical extraction of Usnea as well as sorption kinetics and resulting material properties have been studied separately in detail before arriving at an optimized overall process.