The FlowCAM particle imaging and analysis system from laboratory instrumentation manufacturer Fluid Imaging Technologies automatically detects, images and measures individual particles and agglomerates during the microencapsulation process in real-time. Revealing thousands of particles on screen in seconds and saving the data for analysis, the FlowCAM enables lab managers, process engineers and others to see the distinct shell layer encasing the core particle, visually assess the wall thickness and quality of the coating coverage, and determine whether the encapsulated particles meet required specifications. The ability to monitor shell or capsule formation also allows process stability to be tested by observing how the particles react to changes in temperature, concentration, pH and other variables.
Ideal for monitoring food ingredients, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, flavors, fragrances, textiles and other microencapsulated products, the FlowCAM provides the visual capabilities of microscopy including the ability to detect translucent and transparent particles, all at a fast pace that yields high volumes of statistically significant data. In addition, the FlowCAM measures each particle based on the actual image to provide more than 30 different measurement parameters with unprecedented accuracy. "Particle shape has a dramatic effect on the encapsulation process and on product performance but microscopy is too slow and laser diffraction cannot provide visual documentation or reliable morphological data," says Jean-Antoine Meiners, owner of contract laboratory Laboratoire Meiners, Switzerland. "With the FlowCAM, we get speed you can never get with a manual instrument and most importantly, the type of data we're getting allows us to ask new questions that we'd never have considered asking."
