DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A 3D-PRINTED VORTEX TUBE REACTOR FOR INCREASING THE PRODUCTIVITY OF LIPID-BASED NANOPARTICLES VIA FLOW CHEMISTRY

Abstract

Lipid-based nanoparticles are versatile drug delivery systems, composed of lipids, phospholipids, cholesterol, and modified lipids. They efficiently encapsulate hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs, enhance solubility and stability, and enable controlled drug release and targeted delivery while reducing toxicity due to their biocompatibility and low immunogenicity. However, conventional lipid-based nanoparticle preparation methods like batch synthesis has limitations in terms of nanoparticle properties, productivity, and scalability. To address these challenges, this study focuses on a new design vortex tube reactor fabricated by 3D printing techniques for continuous synthesis via flow chemistry. The optimized reactor, manufactured using polypropylene through fused deposition modeling, exhibits improved mixing and reduced variance compared to conventional approaches. Lipid-based nanoparticles produced in this 3D-printed vortex tube reactor were thoroughly characterized, demonstrating the feasibility of this innovative method. The experimental results showed a reduction in particle size from 192.67 ± 9.40 nm to 166.23 ± 0.98 nm, a decrease in PDI from 0.25 ± 0.01 to 0.17 ± 0.01, an increase in percentage of entrapment efficiency from 49.09 ± 0.65% to 67.75 ± 1.55%, an increase in percentage of loading capacity from 28.99 ± 0.38% to 36.39 ± 0.83%, and a significant boost in productivity from 1.05 ± 0.13 mg/min to 313.4 ± 12.88 mg/min, compared to traditional batch techniques. These tangible improvements underscore the advantages of this novel approach. Paving the way, this study emphasizes the significance of reactor design and flow parameters in continuous flow chemistry for consistent, high-quality large-scale pharmaceutical manufacturing.

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