Alginate fibres: an overview of the production processes and applications in wound management

Alginate fibers are made from sodium alginate, which is a natural polymer extracted from brown seaweeds. Over the last two decades, alginate fibers have become well established in the wound management industry where their ion-exchange and gel-forming abilities are particularly useful for the treatment of exuding wounds. In order to deliver functional performances for advanced wound management products, many improvements have been made in recent years to enhance the absorption and gel-forming capabilities and the anti-microbial properties of alginate fibers. In addition, attempts have been made to use alginate fibers as a carrier to deliver zinc, silver and other active ingredients that are beneficial to wound healing. This paper reviews the development in the production of various fibers from alginate, and summarizes the production processes for calcium alginate, calcium/sodium alginate, sodium alginate, zinc alginate, silver alginate and other types of alginate fibers containing novel functional ingredients. (C) 2007 Society of Chemical Industry.