Microencapsulation of active compounds in natural-origin substrates

Microencapsulation of active compounds into matrices is a technology used in applications such as different sectors like pharmaceutical, agri-food, or phytosanitary. Microspheres degradation releases the active principle along the time in the needed concentration. A broad range of applications can be observed, in the above-mentioned sectors being, biocide, antioxidants, healing or functionalized nanoclay. Despite of the undeniable usage, recent studies suggest that, although microspheres represent just a small percentage of plastic rejected to the oceans, lakes, and rivers, because of their amount, they might be a risk. Microspheres go down to drain, and numerous wastewater treatment plants cannot filtrate them, meaning that small plastic wastes reach easily the riverbed. Besides, certain chemicals are adhered to these microbeads in oceans and river beds, which might lead to be ingested by fishes, and potential introduction to the food chain. The proposed colophony microspheres provide advantages over these problems due to the natural origin (coming from non-fossil fuels), its biocompatibility being adequate for pharmaceutical and health applications, and, additionally, because of the biodegradability which provides zero waste in the middle and long term. Finally, colophony shows significant advantages when it is applied with electrospraying generating optimal spheres distribution onto the substrate. This procedure ensures the ulterior homogeneous and regular active compound release.