Production of resveratrol loaded alginate aerogel: Characterization, mathematical modeling, and study of impregnation

Abstract

Biodegradable polymers have been studied for the production of aerogels, which are specially useful in impregnation processes of target compounds for food and pharmaceutical applications. The aim of this study was to investigate different aspects in the production of alginate aerogels, including the formation of beads (different sizes); the drying kinetics of aerogel in supercritical CO2; and the loading of a resveratrol by the indirect wet impregnation method. High surface area and pore volume (484 m2/g and 0.70 cc/g) were obtained by the atomization with solvent exchange gradient, while the aerogels produced by dripping without gradient showed surface area of 381 m2/g and pore volume of 0.68 cc/g. Sodium alginate aerogel showed to be an appropriate material to load high amounts of resveratrol, with a loading capacity directly correlated to the concentration of resveratrol solution. Wet impregnation and supercritical drying can be presented as feasible techniques to load bioactive compounds.