Graphene is a carbon allotrope and possesses numerous unique properties which make it an attractive material in many areas. In this work, graphene oxide (GO) was added to polyethersulfone (PES) mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) to improve the performance of hemodialysis membranes. GO was synthesized from tartaric acid by pyrolysis with various temperatures of the pyrolysis and the membrane was fabricated by a casting solution method followed by its characterization. The MMMs showed better mechanical properties than pristine PES with a tensile stress and tensile strain value of 5.55 MPa and 0.039 m, respectively. The hydrophilicity of the membranes which is in agreement with contact angle values showed that GO addition increased the hydrophilicity of the MMMs. Hence, the solute flux and clearance of creatinine gave values of 2.94 L m À2 h À1 and 78.3%, respectively. Cross sectional images and the surface morphology were also recorded using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The resulting data proved that the modified MMMs can be a potential material for hemodialysis.

Nanofiber has become one of tissue engineering examples and has extensive application on medical field, particularly as a wound healing and wound dressing. In this research, nanofiber composite based on polycaprolactone and collagen was successfully obtained via electrospinning process and further developed as host of naproxen as anti-inflammatory agents. Addition of copper ferrite (CuFe 2 O 4 ) nanoparticles on the nanocomposite becomes an advance part on this study to control of naproxen release. Several characterizations were furnished to prove the design composite nanofiber and its drug release analysis performed to find out the kinetic model and naproxen release mechanism from nanofibers. CuFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles have potential to be used to control naproxen release in nanofiber that lead to decrease level of drug released, where mostly follow the Korsmeyer-Peppas model. The release of naproxen was certainly influenced by pH value, in which the drug was easier to release on base, instead of acid or neutral condition. Varied naproxen and nanoparticle compositions were prepared to reach optimum formulation of the release. This study provides fundamental data for the effect of magnetic nanoparticle on drug release process.

AbstractThe release of drugs from solid drug delivery materials has been studied intently in recent years. Quantitative analyses achieved from in vitro dissolution becomes easier if a zero-order mathematical model is used. Non-gelatin nutraceutical hard-shell capsules of zero size (approximately 0.7-0.8 cm) were produced from carrageenan-based natural polymers, namely carrageenan-alginate (CA) and carrageenan-starch (CS). Disintegration, dissolution and zero-order drug release kinetics of hard-shell capsules containing 100 mg of salicylamide were studied. The disintegration time of CA and CS were observed to be less than 30 min for both CA and CS. In vitro dissolution profile showed that the percentage dissolution of CA capsules was better at pH 4.5, while that of CS was poor at pH 1.2, 4.5 and 6.8. Determination of drug release kinetics profiles of carrageenan-based hardshell capsules utilized the Noyes-Whitney and Peppas-Sahlin modification rules for zero-order. The drug release from carrageenan-based capsules followed zero-order kinetics, especially at pH 6.8, and was compared to the Higuchi model. Salicylamide in CA hard-shell capsules at a pH 6.8 had a release rate constant (kH) of 2.91 %(ppm/ ppm) min-1/2, while the release rate constant of CS was 0.36 %(ppm/ppm) min-1.

Abstract. 1 The purification of biodiesel was performed using glutaraldehyde-crosslinked chitosan membrane to improve the quality and to reduce the cost of biodiesel production. Biodiesel was obtained by acid-based catalyzed transesterification of Calophyllum inophyllum oil. The results of this experiment showed that the amount of glycerol in biodiesel before the process is 0.3014±0.05 %. After the purification process performed for 1 h, the glycerol content in biodiesel has been reduced to 0.1429±0.09 %.

Polyethersulfon (PES) membrane has been widely used in the biomedical field especially in hemodialysis application. Many modifications of membranes have been applied into hemodialysis such as diffusion, adsorption, and mixed-matrix membrane. The main problem of those membranes is less selectivity to attract the uremic toxins. In this study, we report the modification of PES mixed with cellulose acetate (PES/CA) membrane as mixed-matrix membrane (MMM) using imprinted-zeolite (PES/CA/IZC) in order to increase the selectivity for targeted analyte. The hollow fibre membranes (HFM) were fabricated by dry-wet spinning technique. The successful zeolite A synthesised and was characterised by x-ray diffraction (XRD). The mixed-matrix membranes were characterised in terms of morphology using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), water contact angle (WCA), pure water flux (PWF), clearance of creatinine (CC), and BSA adsorption. In accordance with the results of characterisation, the synthesis of zeolite A, and imprinted-zeolite creatinine was successfully fabricated. The SEM results showed that the PES/CA/IZC membrane has uniform pores and fingerlike structure. The same result was obtained for PES/CA membrane, but not for PES/CA/ZA membrane. The WCA of the PES/CA; PES/CA/ZA; and PES/CA/IZC were 85.63; 84.98; and 77.53 (o), respectively. While the PWF were 22.84; 27.57, and 40.52 (Lm-2h-1), respectively. The addition of imprinted-zeolite into the membrane improved creatinine removal up to 74.99%. It showed that PES/CA/IZC has succeeded in increasing the selectivity of membranes to attract the creatinine as target analyte. Compared to the PES/CA, the creatinine clearance of membranes improved and increased up to 5.2%. For protein rejection, the PES/CA/IZC rejected 79.05% of bovine serum albumin (BSA). Based on these results, it can be concluded that PES/CA/IZC can be considered as hemodialysis membranes.