The video recording of our recent webinar, "Analysis, Optimization and Production of Translucent Nanoemulsions", presented by Industrial Sonomechanics' R&D Scientist, Mr. Shlomo Leibtag, and Micromeritics' Global Technical Training and Support Manager, Mr. Jack G. Saad, is now ready. The webinar had over 200 registered participants and generated close to 100 questions. Some of these questions were addressed by Shlomo and Jack during the event. The answers to the rest are provided below. If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact us or leave a comment below.
Industrial Sonomechanics® (ISM) is pleased to announce that our peer-reviewed research article, "Cannabis Extract Nanoemulsions Produced by High-intensity Ultrasound: Formulation Development and Scale-up", was recently published in the Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology and is now accessible online. The article compares natural and synthetic surfactant-based "water-soluble" CBD nanoemulsion formulations and describes methods used for their optimization and production with scalable Barbell Horn® Ultrasonic Technology (BHUT).
The paper describes two main types of cannabis extract nanoemulsions (natural and synthetic surfactant-based), focusing on formulation optimization procedures, production processes and droplet sizeanalysis techniques used to evaluate the results. ISM's LSP-600 processor configured in the batch-mode was used for the laboratory-scale optimization experiments, after which the process was transferred to the bench scale using our BSP-1200 processor operating in the flow-through mode. Over one million of nano-emulsified 10 mg CBD extract doses were shown to be possible to produce with one BSP-1200 unit per month. This number can be increased by the factor of five by further upgrading to our ISP-3000 processor configured in the flow-through mode.
While not referenced in the article, ISM has since introduced a product called NanoStabilizer®. This all-in-one, tasteless formulation is optimized for the production of translucent nanoemulsions with much smaller droplet sizes than could be achieved prior to its development.
Industrial Sonomechanics (ISM) is pleased to invite you to a live webinar, which will be conducted via Zoom at 3:00 pm EST on Thursday, September 10th, 2020. The webinar, entitled "Analysis, Optimization and Production of Translucent Nanoemulsions", will be presented by ISM's Research & Development Scientist, Mr. Shlomo Leibtag, and Micromeritics Instrument Corporation's Global Technical Training and Support Manager and Associate Scientist, Mr. Jack G. Saad.
Webinar Overview
Translucent oil-in-water nanoemulsions have become popular for the target site delivery of functional (e.g., biologically active) hydrophobic ingredients and are currently implemented by many industries, including pharmaceutical, cannabis, food & beverage, nutraceutical, chemical, alternative fuel and many more. Driven by their nanoscale (20 - 200 nm) droplet sizes, translucent oil-in-water nanoemulsions have several desirable properties: they are water-compatible, physically and chemically stable, and allow the incorporated hydrophobic ingredients to be delivered rapidly and completely.
But how does one measure nanoemulsion droplet sizes? And how can this information be utilized to optimize nanoemulsion formulations and production parameters?
Recent years have seen major breakthroughs in how vaccines and antiviral drugs are formulated and manufactured. Nanoemulsions and liposomes are now widely used as vaccine and drug carriers because they can easily incorporate lipophilic (in the case of nanoemulsions) and hydrophilic (in the case of liposomes) bioactive compounds, stabilize substances that otherwise undergo hydrolysis, and significantly reduce side effects of potent drugs. For the past 14 years, Industrial Sonomechanics (ISM) has been conducting R&D and supplying its scalable ultrasonic technology to many companies in this field, including those using it in ultrasonic vaccine production and, more recently, in the development of SARS-CoV-
For the past two years, many businesses have been using our all-in-one NanoStabilizer®-LT to convert their cannabis extracts and other hydrophobic bio-actives into water-compatible, stable, translucent nanoemulsions. Most commonly, the conversion is done in order to enhance the bioavailability and accelerate the onset of action of cannabinoids and to infuse beverages without making them cloudy. Designed to work with Industrial Sonomechanics ultrasonic liquid processors, NanoStabilizer®-LT requires no formulation development experience and is compatible with a wide range of bio-actives, including most types of cannabis extracts and isolates, pharmaceutical ingredients, vitamins, essential oils, terpenes, etc. In this post, I provide answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about this popular product.
We are happy to announce that the recording of Dr. Alexey Peshkovsky's 2019 Cannabis Drinks Expo keynote presentation is now ready. In his talk, entitled "Water-compatible cannabis extract nanoemulsions: benefits, formulation development and production methodology", ISM President & Chief Scientific Officer covered several topics critical to the cannabis-infused beverage industry.
One of the primary concerns when formulating oil-in-water (O/W) nanoemulsions is the stability of the finished product. Destabilization of an O/W nanoemulsion can occur due to several physical, chemical or biological processes that deteriorate its quality over time. Understanding and avoiding these processes is paramount to ensuring that products based on cannabis extract nanoemulsions (a.k.a. "water-soluble" CBD and THC) have a long and predictable shelf-life. In this post, common nanoemulsion destabilization pathways will be described, along with the most effective strategies to avoid them.
Sterile filtration is an important post-processing step of ultrasonic nano-emulsification - a process that converts cannabis extracts and/or other hydrophobic bioactives into a water-compatible form. In this article, I will summarize the steps of the nano-emulsification process carried out with BHUT-based ultrasonic equipment and NanoStabilizer®-LT, list the main advantages of the resulting water-compatible nanoemulsions, and explain why sterile filtration is always necessary at the end. Answers to several FAQs will also be provided.
We are frequently asked how to minimize the bitter taste of products made with cannabis extract nanoemulsions (a.k.a., water-soluble CBD and THC). Infusing beverages with CBD and/or THC-containing translucent nanoemulsions (ideally, averaging ~20 nanometers in droplet size diameter) offers a very convenient, discrete and effective consumption method. The infusion does not change the original appearance of the beverages while instantly enabling them to provide a very rapid onset of action and high bioavailability of cannabinoids as well as of any other incorporated active ingredients. With this pharmacokinetic profile, the experience a lot more similar to consuming an alcoholic beverage than a typical cannabis-containing edible, which provides a myriad of attractive options for the vendors and consumers. In many cases, however, the infusion results in a bitter taste, which can range in intensity from virtually undetectable to quite unpleasant and makes it important to understand and manage.
You do not have to be a scientist to make high-quality water-soluble CBD and THC! Industrial Sonomechanics' customers no longer need to develop their own formulations and production protocols for cannabis extract nanoemulsions. We are pleased to announce the launch of a new product: All-In-One NanoStabilizer®-LT. This convenient product can tremendously simplify the ultrasonic production of high-quality, translucent nanoemulsions of bio-active ingredients such as cannabis extracts. This product is designed to work in conjunction with our laboratory, bench and industrial ultrasonic processors, and comes with detailed, easy-to-follow instructions.