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Electrospinning is a promising drying technology providing a rapid and gentle drying at ambient temperature, thus electrospinning of polyvinyl alcohol aqueous solutions was investigated for the solid formulation of biopharmaceuticals. The commonly used single-needle electrospinning does not have adequate productivity to satisfy the industrial requirements, therefore our aim was to study the scale-up of the technology by using high-speed electrospinning. High molecular weight polyethylene oxide as a secondary polymer was applied to enhance the fiber formation of polyvinyl alcohol. While polyvinyl alcohol-polyethylene oxide formulations resulted in adequate fiber formation it was not possible to process them further as the friability of the fibers was too low. In order to increase the friability, the effect of adding various sugars (mannitol, glucose, lactose, saccharose, and trehalose) was investigated. The results showed that mannitol was the best friability enhancing excipient because of its crystallinity and low moisture content in the fibrous sample. In contrast, glucose, lactose, saccharose, and trehalose were amorphous with higher moisture content and fibers containing these were grindable only after post-drying.

Polymer-based electrospun amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs) were prepared and investigated from pharmaceutical application point of view. Spironolactone (SPIR) was used as model drug mixed in various concentrations with polymers suitable for fibre formation, such as vinylpyrrolidone-vinyl acetate copolymer, polyvinylpyrrolidone K30 and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose. Single needle electrospinning was applied at first for screening the composition of the prepared ASDs. Scaling-up the selected polymer-drug combination was accomplished by high speed electrospinning, the productivity of which enabled investigation of downstream processing to generate tablet formulation. The steps of a potential continuous production line (fibre collection, grinding, feeding and tableting) proved to be feasible with the electrospun ASD without any sign of crystallization. If crystalline drug was added into the ASD containing tablets as impurity strictly monotonous decrease of drug dissolution was observed in the function of the crystalline drug content. The capabilities of the non-destructive Raman and near-infrared spectroscopies, as fast quality assurance tools, were compared to each other in quantifying of crystalline SPIR content in the prepared tablets.

Natural fibre reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) foams, as potential green replacements for petroleum-based polymer foams, were investigated. Highly porous (ε > 95%) microcellular PLA foams were manufactured by supercritical CO2 assisted extrusion process. To overcome the inherently low melt strength of PLA, epoxy-functionalized chain extender was applied, while talc was added to improve its crystallization kinetics. The combined application of chain extender and talc effectively promoted the formation of uniform cell structures. The effect of cellulose and basalt fibre reinforcement on the foamability, morphology, structure and mechanical properties of the PLA foams were investigated as well. The addition of 5 wt% natural fibres promoted the cell nucleation, but caused non-uniform distribution of cell size due to the microholes induced by local fibre-matrix debonding. The compression strength of the manufactured basalt fibre reinforced PLA foams reached 40 kPa.

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The aim of this work was to investigate the suitability of electrospinning for biodrug delivery and to develop an electrospinning-based method to produce vaginal drug delivery systems. Lactobacillus acidophilus bacteria were encapsulated into nanofibers of three different polymers (polyvinyl alcohol and polyvinylpyrrolidone with two different molar masses). Shelf life of the bacteria could be enhanced by the exclusion of water and by preparing a solid dosage form, which is an advantageous and patient-friendly way of administration. The formulations were stored at –20, 7 and 25°C, respectively. Viability testing showed that the nanofibers can provide long term stability for huge amounts of living bacteria if they are kept at (or below) 7°C. Furthermore, all kinds of nanowebs prepared in this work dissolved instantly when they got in contact with water, thus the developed biohybrid nanowebs can provide new potential ways for curing bacterial vaginosis.

Upgrading of polypropylene waste was performed by different composite technologies, in order to improve the flame retardancy combined with preserved or improved mechanical properties. The polymer waste of density below 900 kg/m3 is originated from end-of-life vehicles (ELV) after comminution, density separation and comprehensive analysis. Intumescent flame retardant system was used for reducing the flammability; while chopped glass fibre reinforcement was used to compensate the deterioration of mechanical properties caused by flame retardant additives. In mixed composite beside of flame retardants, the reinforcement effect of glass fibre can not be realized; therefore with modification of composite structure (but maintaining the composition) a multilayer composite was developed, which contains 65.5% of recycled polymer, where the core is reinforced with glass fibre covered by flame retarded shell layers. Enhanced flame retardancy (4 min longer time to escape) was achieved by using this layered composite compared to the mixed composite, thus the time to escape could be extended only with modification of composite structure.

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