Chinese medicine modernization process accelerated, drying process technology and equipment need to be improved and upgraded

Drying is a key link in the pharmaceutical process of traditional Chinese medicine, which affects the quality of drugs.

In recent years, with the acceleration of the process of modernization of traditional Chinese medicine, drying new technology as the key to the technological transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry of traditional Chinese medicine, is receiving attention from the industry.

Emerging drying technologies for Chinese herbal medicines are receiving attention

At present, emerging drying technologies applied to Chinese herbal medicines in the market mainly include spray drying, fluidized bed drying, microwave drying, vacuum freeze drying, far-infrared drying, etc., which have their own advantages and also have some defects.

Spray drying is in the drying room will be diluted by atomization, in contact with the hot air, the water quickly vaporized, the dry product, the technology is mainly used in the drying of Chinese medicine extracts, spray drying granulation, spray coating and so on.

As far as the advantages are concerned, the drying efficiency of spray drying technology is high, fast, short heating time, and the prepared extract material has good fluidity and good looseness, and the powder can be obtained directly from the liquid material, and the process is simple.

However, due to the complexity of traditional Chinese medicine extracts, the spray drying process is often sticky wall, adhesion and other problems, affecting the production efficiency.

Fluidized bed drying drying efficiency is also very high, very fast, and drying uniformity, large output, suitable for large-scale production, is now mainly used for tablets, granules in the preparation process of granulation drying and drying water pills, small honey pills.

However, in the practical application, the ordinary fluidized bed dryer still has some shortcomings, such as uneven fluidization due to the bubble phenomenon, energy consumption and so on.

China's microwave drying technology research started late, but compared with the traditional drying methods, microwave drying has high efficiency, energy saving, environmental protection and other outstanding features, is now widely used in Chinese herbal medicine, Chinese medicine extracts, extracts, dispersions and so on.

In recent years, microwave drying has been more and more widely used in the field of traditional Chinese medicine, but it is not suitable for the use of Chinese herbal medicines which are rich in volatile or heat-sensitive components, and natural plants containing a large amount of starch and gum.

Vacuum freeze-drying technology can better preserve the activity of medicinal active ingredients and maintain the appearance quality of the herbs, and the technology has been widely used in ginseng, American ginseng, cordyceps sinensis, antler velvet, and other Chinese herbal medicines.

And in recent years, with the rapid development of modernization technology of traditional Chinese medicine and freeze-drying technology, the application of vacuum freeze-drying technology has become more and more widespread.

Far infrared drying, compared with the previous commonly used heating and drying methods, the main advantage is less energy consumption, high quality, and lower production costs, suitable for high water content, active ingredients are not stable to heat, easy to rot and deterioration or the rapid drying of valuable herbs and tablets.

At present, it is mainly used in the drying and sterilizing process of Chinese herbal medicines, drinking tablets, pills, dispersions, granules and so on.

It is worth mentioning that due to the short wavelength of far infrared penetration depth is small, so it is only suitable for drying thin layer of herbs.

Drying process technology and equipment need to be improved and upgraded

The promotion and application of new drying technology can be said to greatly enhance the drying efficiency of Chinese herbal medicines, the quality of Chinese herbal medicines, but the industry also pointed out that the modern drying technology in the basic research and development of the application of the conversion problem, the technical specifications are also in urgent need of standardization.

In addition, in the application of new drying technology, drying process level is not high, backward equipment has become an important factor hindering the transformation of drying process.

Therefore, in the process of promoting the development of modern traditional Chinese medicine industry, drying technology and equipment urgently need to transform and upgrade.

So, drying process technology and equipment should be in which direction of transformation? Combined with the policy and market demand, to solve the drying process of green environmental protection and energy saving is the main direction of development, drying equipment enterprises should be drying process technology transformation, such as green manufacturing, intelligent manufacturing and other new manufacturing technology concepts, to realize the upgrading of drying equipment, and continue to improve the ability of independent innovation, and promote the industry to the high-end direction of transformation.

It is reported that there have been drying equipment enterprises in the direction of intelligent manufacturing efforts, such as enterprises to create an intelligent Chinese medicine tablets concoction equipment, capable of realizing intelligent monitoring and can be traced back to the original source, can be remotely controlled, etc., to ensure the quality of Chinese medicine tablets, to ensure that the high quality of the production of traditional Chinese medicine link; there are also equipment manufacturers around the intelligent manufacturing and green production, the introduction of Chinese medicine extraction, concentration, drying, sterilization and other high-tech technology and equipment manufacturing core technology. There are also equipment manufacturers around the intelligent manufacturing and green production, with Chinese medicine extraction, concentration, drying, sterilization and other processes and equipment manufacturing core technology of high-tech innovative equipment.

In addition, the new version of the GMP put forward more stringent requirements for the quality of drugs, especially in terms of sterility requirements.

In this regard, the industry pointed out that the Chinese medicine drying equipment needs to be improved and upgraded in sterilization, testing, online testing and control and other functional control technology and promote the application, to further ensure that the production quality of the product, so as to promote the high-quality development of the modern Chinese medicine industry.