Načrtovanje visokotlačnih separacijskih procesov

Biopolymers are characterised by their biodegradable behaviour in certain environments. Especially the development of natural biopolymers from renewable resources is gathering increasing interest in the scientific as well as in the industrial sectors . Since Biopolymers may be tailored to specific requirements, the encapsulation of pharmaceutical compounds or flavours in biopolymers would open wide avenues for the production of controlled- release systems. Most common mechanical pulverisation processes are milling and grinding. With these processes it is not possible to produce specific morphologies like foams or hollow spheres, but always splintered edges. Encapsulation is carried out by common precipitation techniques. Gelatine, as a widely applied biopolymer, represents one example of those substances of large interest, but it is difficult to process. Especially gelatines with high molecular mass are difficult or almost impossible to be pulverized by spray drying techniques, due to their high viscosity. In the frame of this research work, an integrated high-pressure spraying, drying and pulverization process for high viscous gelatine was developed, based on a combination of the water removing effects "Evaporation" and "Gas-solubility". The resulting products were dry, free-flowing gelatine powders, still exhibiting high molecular masses. Due to the new, gentle method of processing, a completely new gelatine product with unique properties was obtained. Even the encapsulation of edible oil in high ratios was found to be possible with this new process. The characterisation was carried out by standard methods for gelatine on the one hand side, and standard procedures for characterising powders on the other hand side. The developed process was patented under the identifier "WO 002009135601 A1".Osnovna lastnost biopolimerov je njihova biorazgradljivosti v določenih okoljih. Tako na znanstvenem področju kot tudi v industriji raste interes še posebej za razvoj naravnih biopolimerov iz obnovljivih virov. Ker so lahko biopolimeri pripravljeni za specifične zahteve, bi inkapsulacija farmacevtskih spojin ali sestavin v biopolimere odprla nove možnosti za produkcijo kontroliranih sistemov rešitev. Najpogostejša postopka mehanične pulverizacije sta mletje in brušenje. S tema postopkoma ni mogoče proizvesti specifičnih morfologij, podobnim penam ali votlim kroglicam, ampak vedno morfologije z razbitimi robovi. Inkapsulacija je izvedena z navadno sedimentacijsko tehniko. Želatina, kot široko uporaben biopolimer, predstavlja primer snovi velikega interesa, vendar je postopek zapleten. Zaradi njihove visoke viskoznosti je še posebej težko z atomizacijsko tehniko pulvelizirati želatine z visoko molekularno maso,. V okviru te raziskovalne naloge je bil na osnovi kombinacije efekta vodnega odstranjevanja “izhlapevanja” in “plinske-topnosti” razvit proces integriranega visokotlačnega brizganja, sušenja in pulverizacije za visoko viskozno želatino. Dobljeni produkti so bili suhi, sipki želatinasti praški, ki so še vedno predstavljali visoko molekularno maso. Glede na novo, blago metodo procesa, je bil razvit popolnoma nov želatinasti produkt z edinstvenimi lastnostmi. Ugotovljeno je bilo, da je celo inkapsulacija jedilnega olja visoke gostote možna s to metodo. Karakterizacija je bila na eni strani izvedena s standardnimi metodami za želatino in na drugi strani s standardnimi postopki za karakterizacijo praškov. Razvit process je bil patentiran pod identifikacijsko številko “WO 002009135601 A1”