Abstract—
Blumea balsamifera is a commercially available herbal drug that has anti-urolithic and diuretic properties. This study quantifies the effect of
B. balsamifera extract on the dissolution kinetics of Calcium Oxalate Monohydrate (COM) crystals by modeling the dissolution of Ca
2+. COM dissolution follows a first-order diffusion-controlled process. The extract did not change the dissolution phenomena. At 10 ppm, the extract had no significant effect on the rate constant (
P = 0.166) and surface concentration (
P = 0.372). Increasing the extract to 20 ppm did not change the dissolution phenomena and model parameters. The extract significantly decreases the equilibrium Ca
2+ concentration with
P = 0.0010 and
P = 0.0179 at 10 and 20 ppm of extract, respectively.
B. balsamifera extract binds free Ca
2+ in the synthetic urine. This increases the amount of Ca
2+ that dissolves but does not significantly increase the rate of dissolution suggesting that urine volume is more important for COM stone dissolution.
Index Terms—
Blumea balsamifera extract, dissolution kinetics, ethanol extract, kidney stones
The authors are with the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines. E-mail: nicki_chan@yahoo.com.ph (L.N.C.), shaunvincent.peralta@gmail.com (S.V.P.), stso@alum.up.edu.ph (S.E.T.)
*Correspondence: cmmontealegre@up.edu.ph (C.M.M.)
[PDF]
Cite: Charlimagne M. Montealegre, Louise Nicholle C. Chan, Shaun Vincent P. Peralta, and Sven Eldric T. So, "Effect of Blumea Balsamifera Extract on the Kinetics of Calcium Oxalate Monohydrate (COM) Dissolution," International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 45-48, 2023.
