Abstract
The micronization of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-
co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) from organic solutions using supercritical antisolvent (SAS) technique has been successfully achieved.
SAS experiments were carried out at different operational conditions and microspheres with mean diameters ranging from 3 to 9
μm were obtained. The effect of CO
2 and liquid flow, temperature and pressure on particle size and particle size distribution was evaluated. The microspheres were precipitated from a dichloromethane (DCM) solution. The best process conditions for this mixture were, according to our study, 40
°C, 100
bar, 1
mL
min
−1 liquid flow and 10
L
min
−1 carbon dioxide flow.
Experiments with polymers containing different HV percentages were carried out. The powders obtained became more spherical as the HV content decreased.