• Journal of Life Science
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.45-49
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• 1999

Seaweed alginate was acetylated by activated carbon immobilized Pseudomonas syringae in a fluidized bed, up-flow reactor. The acetylation degree of seaweed alginate was about 30%. Calcium-acetylated seaweed alginate gel bead was made and compared to calcium-seaweed alginate gel bead by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Structural difference of two gel beads may results from increased viscosity and decreased affinity of acetylated seaweed alginate for calcium ion. On the basis of interior and exterior structure of calcium-acetylated seaweed alginate gels and property of acetylated seaweed alginate, it seems that acetylated seaweed alginate is used for the supporter for electrophoresis and packing materials for liquid chromatography and gel filtration.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.715-721
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• 2007

In this study, the sphericity of calcium alginate gel beads was optimized using response surface methodology. The optimum conditions for bead sphericity were a concentration of 2.24% sodium alginate, a flow rate of 0.059 mL/sec for the sodium alginate solution, and a 459 rpm rotation for the calcium chloride solution. The predicted and experimental bead sphericities under the optimum conditions were 94.5 and 96.7%, respectively, showing close agreement. We also investigated the processing condition effects for the physical properties of the optimized calcium alginate gel beads. Immersion in hot water slightly decreased bead size and rupture strength. NaCl treatment increased bead size and decreased rupture strength. While the pH of the calcium chloride solution had little effect on bead sphericity, the bead sizes and gel strengths decreased with longer times in each pH solution. The beads coated with pectin and glucomannan showed no significant changes in sphericity, but their sizes decreased with time. The coated beads showed higher rupture strengths than the uncoated beads.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.351-355
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• 2014

In recent years, biochar has received much attention as soil amendment, enhancing soil fertility and reducing toxicity of heavy metals with its large specific surface area and high pH. Biochar has also the effect of alleviating global warming by carbon sequestration from recycling organic wastes by pyrolysis. However, scattering of fine particles of biochar is a hindrance to expand its use from human health point-of-view. Alginate, a natural polymer without toxicity, has been used for capsulation and hydrogel fabrication due to its cross-linking nature with calcium ion. In this study, the method of cross-linkage between alginate and calcium ion was employed for making dust-free biochar bead. Then an equilibrium adsorption experiment was performed for verifying the adsorption effect of biochar bead on heavy metals (cadmium, copper, lead, arsenic, and zinc). Results showed that biochar bead had effects on adsorbing heavy metals, especially lead, except arsenic.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.153-161
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• 1995

Alginic acid is a hydrophilic , colloidal polysaccharide obtained from cell wall of seaweed or brown algae and has a broad range of applications. Alginlc acid becomes alginate gel bead due to its cation-induced gelation. Dried alginate beads can be reswollen according to environmental pH. The purpose of this paper is to explore the possible applicability of alginate beads as an oral controlled release system of ibuprofen. In this experiment ibuprofen was incorporated in alginate beads and alginate beads were treated with various methods. Ibuprofen release from alginate beads in phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) was laster than in distilled water and dilute HCl. The release of ibuprofen was more sustained in bead than simple mixture and coprecipitate of ibuprofen and sodium alginate. The dissolution rate of ibuprofen was decreased in using of bead that hardened with formaldehyde. The dissolution rate of the drug from the bead was the fastest in 12 hour dried beads, 1.5%-sodium alginate concentration and 1%-calcium chloride concentration. Sodium alginate bead can be used as a sustaind release drug delivery system of water-insoluble drugs.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.431-433
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• 2011

Alginate microfibers were fabricated by self assembly of alginate monomers exuded from alginate beads (~2 mm in diameter) containing calcium phosphate. Upon incubation of the beads in cell culture medium at $37^{\circ}C$ for a few days, fibers with a diameter of about $7{\mu}m$ started to sprout from the bead surface, and these grew up to about 10 mm in length, resulting in the beads being covered with fiber forests similar to chestnut bur. The combined system of the alginatebased microfiber forest and bead is considered to be useful as a novel 3-dimensional scaffold for cell culture and tisssue growth.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.412-417
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• 2001

Sodium alginate was used to immobilize Bifidobacterium breve ATCC 15700 cells. The ability of the Ca-alginate beads to protect the B. breve ATCC 15700 was evaluated under different conditions including alginate concentration, bead size, pH, hydrogen peroxide, and storage period. The survival of the B. Breve ATCC 15700 was estimated in pasteurized yogurt, containing either the immobilized or free cells, throughout the storage period. The survival cells in bead after exposure to acidic solution (pH 3.0) increased with increase of both the alginate gel concentration and bead size. Also, immobilized cells in alginate bead were more resistant than the free cells to hydrogen peroxide, storage period, and the environment inside yogur. When retreated beads with skim milk and nonretreated beads were tested in acidified pH 3.0 TPY media including acetic and lactic acid, the number of viable cells in the retreated bead was approximately 10-fold higher than that of nonretreated beads. This suggests that the skim milk operated as a material decreasing the diffusion of acid and hydrogen perosicde into alginate gels. From this research, it was found that yogurt itself supported immobilized cells with an improved protection from the extreme acidity in yogurt.

• Food Engineering Progress
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.208-216
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• 2010

Lab scale experiments were conducted in order to assess the applicability of $CaCO_{3}$-alginate beads as neutralizer for the high cell density cultivation and prepare the direct vat inoculation cultures of isolated sourdough lactic acid bacteria. With increasing the amount of bead and decreasing the diameter of bead in acidic solution, the neutralizing effect of $CaCO_{3}$-alginate bead became higher. In batch process with $CaCO_{3}$-alginate beads, Lactobacillus amylovorus DU-21 isolated from sourdough showed the highest viable cell counts and optical density in MRS broth. The values of viable cell counts and optical density were 9.996 log CFU/mL and 3.97, respectively. Experiments on the conditions which increase viability during lyophilization were carried out and the following results were obtained; 15% glycerol revealed the high cryoprotective effect on the concentrated cultures during lyophilization among the two cryoprotective agents. Consequently, $CaCO_{3}$-alginate beads and 15% glycerol were found to be useful not only to cultivate Lactobacillus amylovorus DU-21 but also to preserve strain.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.157-164
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• 2007

Microencapsulation of cells within microfluidic devices enables explicit control of the membrane thickness or cell density, resulting in improved viability of the transplanted cells within an aggressive immune system. In this study, living cells (3T3 and L929 fibroblast cells) are encapsulated within a semi-permeable membrane (calcium crosslinked alginate gel) in two different device designs, a flow focusing and a core-annular flow focusing geometry. These two device designs produce a bead and a long microfibre, respectively. For the alginate bead, an alginate aqueous solution incorporating cells flows through a flow focusing channel and an alginate droplet is formed from the balance of interfacial forces and viscous drag forces resulting from the continuous (oil) phase flowing past the alginate solution. It immediately reacts with an adjacent $CaCl_2$ drop that is extruded into the main flow channel by another flow focusing channel downstream of the site of alginate drop creation. Depending on the flow conditions, monodisperse microbeads of sizes ranging from $50-200\;{\mu}m$ can be produced. In the case of the microfibre, the alginate solution with cells is extruded into a continuous phase of $CaCl_2$ solution. The diameter of alginate fibres produced via this technique can be tightly controlled by changing both flow rates. Cell viability in both forms of alginate encapsulant was confirmed by a LIVE/DEAD cell assay for periods of up to 24 hours post encapsulation.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.185-190
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• 2001

Alginate, a well-known biopolymer, is universally applied for immobilization of microbial cells. Biosorption characteristics of lead by waste biomass of immobilized A. niger beads, used in fermentation industries to produce citric acid, were studied. The immobilized A. niger beads, prepared via capillary extrusion method using calcium chloride, were applied in the removal of lead. Pb uptake was the highest in A. niger beads cells grown for 3 days with medium producing citric acid (12% sucrose, 0.5% $NH_4NO_3$, 0.1% $KH_2PO_4$, and 0.025% $MgSO_4$). Lead uptake by the immobilized A. niger beads and free A. niger mycellia beads increased sharply with time. However, while uptake by the immobilized A. niger beads continued to increase slowly, that by free A. niger mycellia beads stopped after 30 min. The optimum pH and temperature of lead uptake were found to be 6 and $35^{\circ}C$, respectively. The maximum uptake of lead was achieved with $50{\sim}100$ beads and 50 ml lead solution in a 250-ml Erlenmeyer flask, while, at over 100 beads, uptake of the lead decreased. The order of biosorption capacity for heavy metals was Pb>Cu>Cd. Pb uptake capacity of the immobilized A. niger beads treated with 0.1 M $CaCI_2$, 0.1 M NaOH, and 0.1 M KOH decreased compared to the untreated beads. On testing the desorption of Pb from the immobilized A. niger beads, re-uptake of Pb was found possible after desorption of the binding metal with 0.1 M HCI.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.497-505
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to apply molecular gastronomy and spherification methodology to persimmon deserts. We prepared 'persimmon calcium alginate beads' and investigated their physical and sensory characteristics by adding different concentrations of sodium alginate (0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0%). Lightness and yellowness decreased significantly as the concentration of sodium alginate increased. However hardness, springiness, chewiness, cohesiveness, and resilience but not adhesiveness tended to increase as the concentration of sodium alginate increased. The thickness of the beads increased as the concentration of sodium alginate increased. In contrast, the thickness of the membrane decreased as the concentration of alginate increased from 0.8 to 1.0% suggesting that the amount of sodium alginate had reached a critical point. Quantitative descriptive analysis showed that voluminosity, springiness, hardness, chewiness, and residue tended to increase as the concentration of sodium alginate increased. Overall preference reached a peak at 0.4% sodium alginate.