Microencapsulation of pheromone-analogue and measurement of the sustained release

Abstract

A model study was conducted to establish 2 feasible production and application systems for the long-term, sustained release of pheromone into the atmosphere of targeted areas. The desired goal of effective release was set at least half a year. 2-Ethylhexyl acetate (EHA) was selected as a pheromone analogue due to its similar structure and easier access for quantitative analysis. At first EHA was impregnated in wax particles, which were then encapsulated employing the complex coacervation of a gelatin-gum arabic system. The release period of EHA through the gelatin wall, however, turned out to be too short—only a week at most. As a second attempt, a modification of the two-phase emulsion technique was employed to encapsulate multiple numbers of wax particles in hydrated networks of gelatin. Though the initial release rate of EHA was still too high, 60 per cent of encapsulated EHA underwent sustained release over six months after absorbed moisture had completely evaporated. A two-step mechanism of mass transfer was proposed and the related parameters in terms of the capacity coefficient and effective diffusion coefficient were estimated.