From Tannery Skin To Fresh Pig Skin-Optimization Research Of Gelatin Raw Material

As an important pharmaceutical excipient and food additive, gelatin was widely used in medical and food industry. Meanwhile, the intake safety and manufacturing influence on the environment has also caused wide public concern in these years. when tannery skin is used for gelatin manufacturing, some issues, such as uncontrollability of unknown chemicals brought from the raw material and finally to the product, and high water consumption in repeated washing of tannery skin, have become the bottleneck of gelatin industrial development.For the long term and sustainable development, this article discussed necessary in-process-control (IPC) method development and process problems solving based on raw material replacement from tannery skin to fresh pig skin.The pretreatment process was investigated and optimized when fresh pig skin was used as raw material. It was proven possible to significantly decrease water consumption in the process. The water consumption was decreased from 1350 t/T (water weight/gelatin weight, ton/ton) to about 350 t/T by cancelling/reducing both prewashing and after neutralization washing. Re-using ultra-filtration process water was also an effective way to achieve the purpose.The raw material replacement will raise a much higher cost and bring influence on product quality (lower bloom and viscosity). To support process development, precise and rapid IPC analytical methods are required. This research set up a determination method of gelatin solution viscosity based on concentration correction. The method has good linearity and good precision. This method make it possible to inspect quality change in manufacturing process and ensure the ge I at i n qua I i ty.Acidulation and extraction are key steps in gelatin manufacturing. The research designed the orthogonal test to evaluate the influence factors on gelatin manufacturing, such as pH value, temperature and time. And finally mature process of acidulation and extraction were set up and applied for gelatin manufacturing.