Supercritical Assisted Atomization: effect of operative conditions on PVP microparticle size and morphology

• Polyvinylpyrrolidone can increase the dissolution rate of many hydrophobic drugs and is an inhibitor of recrystallization. Moreover, it can be dissolved in a various kind of solvents, in which CO2 has different solubility.
• Supercritical Assisted Atomization is a micronization process that allows to produce particles suitable for aerosol delivery.
• This work allows to understand how the CO2 solubility influence particle morphology and dimension.

In this work polyvinylpirrolidone (PVP) has been successfully micronized using supercritical assisted atomization (SAA), using different solvents and solvent mixtures.The general influence of solvents is related to their starting surface tension and its reduction due to different quantities of CO2 that can be dissolved at equilibrium and under pressure. The influence of other SAA process parameters, such as temperature and pressure inside the saturator, has also been studied.Spherical non-coalescing PVP microparticles were produced; the smallest PVP particles showed a mean diameter of 0.5 μm and a standard deviation of 0.2 μm.

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