Episode 56: The Mighty Microcapsule

Technology Today

Southwest Research Institute

Technology

4.8 • 19 Ratings

🗓️ 19 June 2023

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As you go about your day, you likely encounter microcapsules or microspheres everywhere. From your morning shower shampoo to your nighttime sleep aid, microencapsulation is working to improve your life. SwRI’s microencapsulation experts create custom, controlled-release capsules for a variety of products. Since 1949, SwRI has tailored this tiny technology for a broad spectrum of industries, including food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, agricultural, veterinary medicine, biomedical and more. Listen now as SwRI Scientist Dr. James Oxley discusses the process of microencapsulation, the wide range of products that contain hidden capsules, the history of the mighty microcapsule and what the future holds for this technology.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	From toothpaste and shampoo to lawn fertilizers and car wax, many products have this tiny technology in common.
0:07.5	Today we explore microencapsulation, what SWRIs customized controlled capsules do, how they're made,
0:14.8	and what the future holds for these mighty microcapsules.
0:18.6	That's next on this episode up, Technology Today.
0:24.9	We live with technology, science, engineering, and the results of innovative research every day.
0:30.8	Now, let's understand it better. You're listening to the Technology Today podcast, presented by
0:35.7	Southwest Research Institute. From deep sea to deep space,
0:39.4	we develop solutions to benefit humankind. Transcript and photos for this episode and all episodes
0:45.7	are available at podcast.swri.org. Share the podcast and hit that subscribe button on your favorite
0:52.4	podcast platform. Hello and welcome to technology today. I'm Lisa Benya. Microcapsules are everywhere. You
1:00.7	might be most familiar with your vitamin or over-the-counter medication capsules, but they're
1:05.3	also hidden in other products we use every day. SWRI has a history of micro-encapsulation research and development.
1:14.3	Institute staff scientist Dr. James Oxley is here to tell us more about customized and controlled
1:20.1	capsules. This is Jamie's second visit with us. He shared his micro-encapsulation breakthrough story
1:25.8	back on episode 14. So great to welcome you back, Jamie.
1:29.3	Thanks for being here. Great. Thanks for having. I appreciate it. So, Jamie, clients worldwide come to
1:35.0	you and your team with unique challenges that only micro encapsulation can solve. So let's start
1:40.1	with a basic understanding of the process. What is micro encapsulation and what do microcapsules do?
1:46.9	Sure. Excellent question. Of course, a good place to start. So it's in the name. So it's a capsule
1:51.9	first and foremost. So you can think of a space capsule or a tiny drug capsule that you might take.
1:56.5	But we're on the micron size. So we're anywhere from below one micron, so nanometers, up to
2:03.4	hundreds of microns, maybe even a millimeter, so coarse sand down to something you can't see.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Southwest Research Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Southwest Research Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.