The rheological behavior of alginate solutions were investigated for the optimal design of a biomanufacturing system to produce alginate structures for tissue engineering. Its rheological properties were determined by a rheometer through rotational and oscillatory tests. Experimental results were used to model the alginate solutions characteristics. The findings suggest that alginate solutions undergo shear-thinning effects with increasing shear rates. It is also possible to observe that its loss modulus is higher than the storage modulus ones being both modulus dependent upon the frequency, which is a typical characteristic of dilute solutions. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 113: 3866-3871, 2009