Premium
Mind the gap: Ensuring laboratory‐scale testing of an electrospinning product meets commercial‐scale needs
Author(s) -
LeCorreBordes Deborah S.,
Jaksons Peter,
Hofman Kathleen
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.44836
Subject(s) - electrospinning , repeatability , process engineering , fiber , materials science , bioprocess , scale up , scale (ratio) , composite material , pulp and paper industry , polymer , chemical engineering , engineering , chemistry , chromatography , physics , classical mechanics , quantum mechanics
Plant & Food BioProcessing has developed a process to electrospin denatured whole‐chain marine collagen. The collagen is routinely tested on laboratory‐scale electrospinning equipment, but when it is electrospun on industrial equipment, the conditions and the product testing criteria differ from those used in the laboratory. A laboratory electrospinning machine was modified to simulate industrial conditions (≥30 kV). Then, several parameters (voltage, working distance) were adjusted from laboratory‐ to commercial‐scale. These changes did not affect average fiber diameter or deposition rate. The optimum electrospinning conditions were a mixture of laboratory‐ and commercial‐scale conditions (30–50 kV; 10 cm working distance). Reducing the working distance by 5 cm improved the production rate by up to 75%. These changes resulted in better repeatability of electrospun fibers over multiple production runs, with fewer adjustments of solutions and parameters. We recommend this approach to design materials and processes relevant to industrial manufacturing of electrospun fibers. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134 , 44836.