Soft gelatin capsules may also vary in capacity, although a clear standardization, unlike hard capsules, does not exist. Suture soft capsules can hold up to 7.5 ml. The capacity of the rolls of the machine, with which the capsules are molded, filled and sealed, is measured in units called minim. In this case, 1 minim is equal to an average of 0.062 ml, and the most used roll cell sizes are from 2 to 80 minim. More capacious capsules (up to 120 minim) are used in the perfume industry.
As noted above, encapsulated dosage forms are becoming increasingly important due to their clear advantages over other dosage forms. In this section, we will consider the technology for the production of hard gelatin capsules, which are most widely used in the modern pharmaceutical industry, as well as the equipment on which they are manufactured. Characterization of the main and auxiliary substances that make up hard gelatin capsules. To obtain capsule shells, high-molecular-weight film-forming substances are used, capable of forming elastic films characterized by a certain mechanical strength. Such materials include casein, zein, cellulose ethers and esters, fats and wax-like substances, as well as some synthetic polymers (for example, a copolymer of methacrylamide and methacrylic acid, etc.). However, these substances have not found wide practical application for pharmaceutical capsules, and therefore, to date, the pharmaceutical industry produces mainly gelatin capsules. * One of...
There are empty capsules in the capsule bin. The capsules move down into two stores, are aligned by a sorting unit and are lowered into the corresponding cells. In the first stage of this operation, the first (inner) row of capsules is loaded, in the second, the second (outer) row of capsules is loaded. After the capsule store is a narrow calibration hole. Only geometrically regular capsules can pass through this hole. In the case of the appearance of irregularly shaped capsules that are unable to pass through the calibration hole, the cells are blocked, recognized by the scanner and excluded from the further filling process.
Over the past few years, capsule filling technology has undergone significant changes in the pharmaceutical industry. The basic idea of capsule filling has expanded from filling with solid forms to filling with liquid forms. Until recently, soft gelatine capsules were the only alternative for encapsulating sparingly soluble dosage forms. Today, new technologies have been developed for filling and sealing hard gelatin capsules with liquid medicinal substances as an alternative replacement for soft gelatin capsules. This simplifies the capsule filling process and helps to avoid the many problems associated with filling soft gelatin capsules. The principal differences between the filling of hard and soft gelatin capsules are as follows. Moisture contents. In hard gelatin capsules, the moisture content can reach up to 50%. Soft gelatin capsules consist of a plasticizer that holds up to 30% moisture. As a result, the moisture absorption capacity of soft gelatin capsules is much higher than that of hard ....
Reproduction and dosing accuracy depends on the characteristics of the filler, the filling method and the type of filling machine. Active substances for filling into hard gelatin capsules must meet the following requirements: the contents must be released from the capsule, providing high bioavailability; when using automatic filling machines, active substances must have certain physicochemical and technological properties, such as: certain size and shape of particles; the same particle size; homogeneity of mixing; flowability (fluidity); moisture contents; compact forming ability under pressure. To fill hard gelatin capsules, machines of various companies are used, which are distinguished by productivity, dosing accuracy and the structure of the dispenser.
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