Examination of High Voltage on Immobilized Microbial Cell By Electrospraying Technique: Bead Size and Cell Viability

Immobilization of enzymes and viable bacterial cells has a specific area of application in food industry and biomedical sciences# encapsulation of cells in alginate spherical hydrogel beads is one of the most common and effective immobilization techniques# alginate bead size is an essential and effective factor in biomedical and biological applications# electrospraying technique is a successful technology in generation of hydrogel beads with small and uniform sizes in which microcapsules are produced by applying high voltages# since the high voltage is most important factor to prepare microcapsules, in this regard we investigated effect of various voltages (0, 5 and 10 kv) on micro-beads size as well as microbial cells viability# the results indicate that the bead size decreases with voltage increment, and there is a greater reduction at higher voltages, so that microparticles can be obtained# also, applied high voltage has partially adverse effect on the cell viability# therefore, we concluded that immobilized cell on alginate beads by electrospraying technique can be improved mass transfer due to small size of beads with negligible loss of cell viability#