He Chuqi, Yang Yucheng, Zhang Mi, Zhou Kecheng, Huang Yayan, Zhang Na, Ye Jing, Arowo Moses, Zheng Bingde, Zhang Xueqin, Xu Honghui, Xiao Meitian
Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, Huaqiao University, Xiamen 361021, China.
Xiamen Engineering and Technological Research Center for Comprehensive Utilization of Marine Biological Resources, Xiamen 361021, China.
Gels. 2023 Jun 5;9(6):463. doi: 10.3390/gels9060463.
Using plant-based polysaccharide gels to produce hard capsules is a novel application of this technology in the medicinal field, which has garnered significant attention. However, the current manufacturing technology, particularly the drying process, limits its industrialization. The work herein employed an advanced measuring technique and a modified mathematical model to get more insight into the drying process of the capsule. Low field magnetic resonance imaging (LF-MRI) technique is adopted to reveal the distribution of moisture content in the capsule during drying. Furthermore, a modified mathematical model is developed by considering the dynamic variation of the effective moisture diffusivity () according to Fick's second law, which enables accurate prediction of the moisture content of the capsule with a prediction accuracy of ±15%. The predicted ranges from 3 × 10 to 7 × 10 m·s, which has an irregular variation with a time extension. Moreover, as temperature increases or relative humidity decreases, there is an increased acceleration of moisture diffusion. The work provides a fundamental understanding of the drying process of the plant-based polysaccharide gel, which is crucial for enhancing the industrial preparation of the HPMC-based hard capsules.
使用植物基多糖凝胶制备硬胶囊是该技术在医药领域的一种新应用，已引起广泛关注。然而，目前的制造技术，特别是干燥工艺，限制了其工业化进程。本文采用先进的测量技术和改进的数学模型，以更深入地了解胶囊的干燥过程。采用低场磁共振成像（LF-MRI）技术揭示干燥过程中胶囊内水分含量的分布。此外，根据菲克第二定律，考虑有效水分扩散率（）的动态变化，建立了改进的数学模型，能够准确预测胶囊的水分含量，预测精度为±15%。预测的有效水分扩散率范围为3×10至7×10米²/秒，随时间延长呈不规则变化。此外，随着温度升高或相对湿度降低，水分扩散加速。这项工作为植物基多糖凝胶的干燥过程提供了基本认识，这对于提高基于羟丙基甲基纤维素的硬胶囊的工业制备至关重要。
