Circulation of components during homogenization of emulsions
AssigneeNovartis AG
InventorsHarald Rueckl, Hanno Scheffczik, Barbara Santry
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Abstract
An improved method for the manufacture of an oil-in-water emulsion involves circulation of emulsion components between a first container and a second container via a homogenizer and/or via a microfluidization device. Usefully, all of the emulsion components from the first container are emptied before being returned.
Claims27
A method for the manufacture of a squalene-containing oil-in-water emulsion, the method comprising the steps of:
- (b) microfluidizing a first emulsion formed using a mechanical homogenizer, wherein the first emulsion has a first average oil droplet size,
- (c) circulating the first emulsion by transferring from a first emulsion container through a first microfluidization device to a second emulsion container, and then again through the same microfluidization device, so as to form a second emulsion having a second average oil droplet size which is less than the first average oil droplet size;
- and
- (d) filtering the second emulsion.
A method for the manufacture of a squalene-containing oil-in-water emulsion, the method comprising the steps of:
- (i) transferring first emulsion components from a first container to a second container through the homogenizer, and then returning them from the second container to the first container through the same homogenizer, so as to form a first emulsion, wherein the homogenizer provides a shear rate of up to 1×106 s−1;
- and
- (ii) microfluidizing the first emulsion to form a second emulsion having a second average oil droplet size which is less than the first average oil droplet size, wherein the microfluidizing occurs in an interaction chamber that provides a shear rate >2.5×106 s−1.
A method for the manufacture of a squalene-containing oil-in-water emulsion, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a first emulsion having a first average oil droplet size of 5000 nm or less, and wherein the number of oil droplets having a size of >1.2 μm in the first emulsion is 5×1011/ml or less;
- circulating the first emulsion by transferring from a first emulsion container through a first microfluidization device to a second emulsion container, and then again through the same microfluidization device, so as to foam a second emulsion having a second average oil droplet size which is less than the first average oil droplet size;
- and
- filtering the second emulsion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.