Yoshihiro Ohzuno

Millimeter-sized capsules prepared using liquid marbles: Encapsulation of ingredients with high efficiency and preparation of spherical core-shell capsules with highly uniform shell thickness using centrifugal force

HYPOTHESIS In our previous study, we prepared millimeter-sized spherical hard capsules by solidifying droplets of liquid monomer or polymer solution placed on superamphiphobic surface. Application of liquid marbles in place of the naked droplets for capsule preparation has a great potential to increase encapsulation efficiency of high volatile ingredients. Further, interfacial thermodynamic prediction of internal configuration of capsules from spreading coefficients may be effective to prepare core/shell capsule. EXPERIMENTS Droplets of liquid monomer containing a volatile ingredient were rolled on superamphiphobic powders to prepare liquid marbles and solidified by photopolymerization. For preparation of core/shell capsules, the liquid marbles injected with an immiscible water droplet were also solidified. FINDINGS A volatile ingredient could be encapsulated with higher efficiency than our previous method. Interfacial thermodynamic prediction of internal configuration of capsules from spreading coefficients indicated successful formation of core/shell capsules. However, photopolymerization of the liquid marbles in a static condition resulted in formation of not only core/shell capsules but also acorn-type capsules. Furthermore, the core/shell capsules were distorted and the shell thickness was not uniform. Rolling of the liquid marbles, which generated centrifugal force inside of the liquid marbles, was effective to prepare spherical capsules with highly uniform shell thickness.

Dehydrogenation of Ethane and Hydrogenation of Carbon Dioxide in a Catalytic Membrane Reactor Using Copper-Plated LaNi5 as a Membrane Material

A membrane reactor consisting of a reactor and a separation membrane may be suitable to provide hydrogen from hydrocarbon in order to reduce carbon dioxide. In this study, a catalytic membrane reactor, a type of membrane reactor, was designed and tested to prove if both the reactions (dehydrogenation of ethane, and reduction of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide) occur on each side of the membrane in the reactor as expected. As membrane materials, copper-plated LaNi5 and CaNi5 were chosen. In the first step, lower hydrocarbons including ethane was dehydrogenated at one side of the membrane; another side was swept by an inert gas. In the second step, simultaneous feed of ethane (one side) and carbon dioxide (another side) was tried if both the reactions (dehydrogenation of ethane and reduction of carbon dioxide) occur. Carbon dioxide was reduced to carbon monoxide; ethane was dehydrogenated to give ethene.

Inorganic microballoon production from shinju-gan using an entrained bed reactor

Hollow inorganic microparticles were produced continuously from a volcanic glass (shinju-gan or per-lite) using an entrained bed reactor. The microparticles are called expanded perlite. The raw material was a sieved fraction (104 μm in volume average diameter) of crushed perlite, which is from China. The effects of temperature and residence time on expanded perlite yield were investigated.