Study On Forming Technics And Key Equipment Design Of Plant Hollow Capsule From Celery Fiber

Gelatin capsules are one of the indispensable products in the pharmaceutical market.However,the raw materials belong to protein products,they have strong hygroscopicity,unstable disintegration time and other defects,so plant hollow capsules appear in the market in recent years,but there are still some problems in their properties,preparation forming technics,price and so on.In this paper,a new kind of plant hollow capsule was developed.Celery which rich in dietary fiber and starch with good film-forming property was used as the main raw material,and the auxiliary materials are fibers with good compatibility.Using the single-factor and response surface experiment method,based on the main performance indexes stipulated in Chinese Pharmacopoeia,the effects of the morphology of celery fiber,the composition ratio of preparation method,main and auxiliary materials,forming technics and preparing parameters on the characteristics of the capsule film were firstly studied to obtain the better technology for the preparation of plant hollow capsule form celery fiber.Subsequently,the key equipment for processing celery fiber hollow capsules was designed,which laid a good technical foundation for the industrial production of celery fiber plant hollow capsules.(1)In this paper,the mechanical properties of forming capsules were taken as indicators,combining with SEM images analysis,dry and wet fiber preparation method,technology and the final fiber morphology were studied by single factor test.The results obtained the best fiber morphology and the preparation method and technology for forming capsules form fiber.The fresh celery was first made into a wet fiber slurry with beating degree of 35°SR～40°SR,and then dried at 50℃～60℃ to prepare fiber powder.In the drying process,the degree of cross-linking of the fiber was low,the dispersion of the fiber material was good after drying,and the mechanical properties of the formed capsule and the film were good.At the same time,the drying kinetics curve of the slurry was established,and the fitted drying equation conformed to the Page drying mathematical model.(2)The response surface experiment method was used to study the gel formula and the forming technics of celery fiber capsules.The formula and technology process of hollow capsule from celery fiber plant were determined.The optimum formula was:40 mesh celery fiber powder content in the range of 0.84%～0.93%,the total content of compound glue(Starch,Cold glue,Agar,D-Sorbitol,PEG-400,in the mass ratio of 40:1:6:7.5:2.5 relationship)total content in the range of 16%～17%;The key parameters of the forming technics should be controlled as follows:the sol temperature was 74℃～75℃,the sol time was 32 min～35 min,the drying temperature was 36℃～38℃,and the water loss rate was controlled above 80%.The tensile strength of the prepared capsule film was 14.443 MPa,the elongation at break was 26.958%.The capsule tightness was 13.33%,the fragility was 13.33%,the disintegration time was 22 min,the rate of finished products was 86.67%,and the appearance score was 8.4.The performance index required by Chinese Pharmacopoeia has been achieved.(3)According to the requirements of forming technics of plant hollow capsule with celery fiber,the design of celery fiber pulping equipment and capsule forming equipment which can be used in industrial production was studied.Firstly,according to the problems of difficult feeding and uneven beating of raw paper milling equipment,a separate feeding device driven by motor with spiral hob was adopted in this paper.The tooth shape of the rough grinding area and the fine grinding area of the grinding plate was designed in the opposite direction,the reasonable tooth height ensured that the working clearance of the grinding plate,and improved the efficiency of grinding pulp,which meet the continuous production requirements of the fiber that needed for the molding capsule.Subsequently,the forming technics of celery fiber plant hollow capsule was studied which mainly included four steps:Mold brush oil,Dip glue forming,Drying and curing,and Capsule shelling.This design adopted the transmission mode of rack and pinion and net belt,so that the modular design of four working procedures constitute a celery fiber hollow capsule forming automatic production line.At the same time,with the help of 3D printing technology,the corresponding simulation modular device of each process was developed.The operation process of each module was simulated,and the feasibility of the scheme was verified.The developed plant hollow capsules meet the characteristics of pharmacopoeia requirements in this paper.The designed capsule forming equipment with reasonable structure and operation security,which can realize continuous industrial production of plant hollow capsules.The work of this thesis would provide some theoretical and technical support for the popularization and application of plant hollow capsules.