Investigation of the effect of infrared and ultrasonic exposure on the kinetics of vacuum freeze-drying of polymeric materials. Part 1: Development of device and process control system

Abstract

Freeze-drying is a widely used method for obtaining polymer scaffolds for use in tissue engineering. The intensification of the vacuum freeze-drying will increase the productivity of the process and reduce its costs. The 1st part of the article describes the modernization of the vacuum freeze-dryer design to organizing a process with simultaneous infrared radiation and ultrasonic exposure. The algorithms to control the freeze-drying process will be discussed too. The 2nd part of the article will discuss how the drying modes effect on the freeze-drying kinetics of various polymer frameworks. In addition, the application of mathematical modeling to predict the drying kinetics of various polymer scaffolds and the selection of optimal freeze-drying modes will be considered.

Keywords:

• Freeze-drying
• heat and mass transfer
• drying kinetics
• infrared freeze-drying
• ultrasonic freeze-drying
• process control

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).