Chapters authored
Silica from Rice as New Drug Delivery Systems
The pharmaceutical industry has seen an increased need of carriers or excipients design that allows the controlled release of a drug in the human body. The main role of an excipient is to carry the drug for its administration under therapeutic index. Among the new generation of excipients, the ordered mesoporous silica (MS) presents several advantages, such as excellent biocompatibility, good adsorption capacity, and precise control in the drug delivery. However, the high cost of synthesis of mesoporous silica restricts its use to industrial applications; therefore, a low-cost procedure is necessary for widespread use. Biogenic silica from rice husk (SiO2-rice) could be a new choice as a drug delivery system. This silica is obtained from an acid leaching of rice husk followed by calcinations processes at low temperatures; these conditions produce silica with good adsorption properties, similar to those of MS. In consequence, the excipient behavior of SiO2-rice was assessed using folic acid as the model drug, displaying an 18.5% of absorption in the SiO2-rice pores, while MS absorbed around 19%. The drug release profiles were similar for both the silicas, suggesting that SiO2-rice could be a low-cost, similar yield excipient for drugs similar to folic acid.
Part of the book: Rice
The Use of Industrial Waste for the Bioremediation of Water Used in Industrial Processes
Recently the interest in the remediation of liquid effluents from industries such as paint manufacturing, leather tanning, etc. has increased, because the quality of the water used in these processes is highly compromised and is generally discarded without any process of purification, causing an inadequate use of water and contributing to the hydric stress of the planet. Therefore, it is necessary to find alternatives for the remediation of water used in industrial processes; one of the methods that has been widely accepted given its high efficiency, low cost, and versatility compared to others is the bioadsorption using materials derived from various processes used for the elimination of metals such as Cr, Co, Cu, Ni, etc. from liquid effluents. Among the materials used for this purpose are rice husk, orange, and wheat as well as apatite (hydroxyapatite and brushite), derived from animal bones, which have shown good capacity (>90%) to adsorb metals from aqueous solutions. Through the characterization by DRX, FTIR, and SEM, of the brushite and studies in equilibrium and kinetics of adsorption, it has been demonstrated that this material has a good capacity to remove metals present in water.
Part of the book: Water Chemistry