Application of freeze dryer

Vacuum freeze-drying technology has been widely used in biological engineering, pharmaceutical industry, food industry, material science, agricultural and sideline products deep processing and other fields.

The freeze-drying of medicine includes western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine. Western medicine freeze-drying has been developed in China, many larger pharmaceutical factories have freeze-drying equipment. In the aspect of injection, the freeze-drying process is adopted more, which improves the quality and storage period of medicine, and brings benefits to both doctors and patients. There are not many varieties of freeze-dried drugs, the product price is high, and the drying technology is not advanced. In terms of traditional Chinese medicine, it is limited to the freeze-drying of ginseng, deer antler, Chinese yam, Chinese caterpillar fungus and a few other Chinese medicinal materials. A large number of Chinese patent medicines have not been freeze-dried, which is a big gap with foreign countries. Several years ago, Japan carried out the "Chinese medicine made in the west", which changed the decoction method of Chinese medicine, solved the tradition that Chinese medicine could not be made into injection or tablet, and also solved the problem that Chinese medicine could not cure acute diseases. Therefore, there is great potential for the study of Chinese medicine freeze-drying technology and products.

In the field of biotechnology products, lyophilized technology is mainly used in the production of serum, plasma, vaccines, enzymes, antibiotics, hormones and other drugs. Biochemical, immunological and bacteriological examination drugs; Long-term preservation of blood, bacteria, arteries, bones, skin, cornea, nerve tissue and various organs.

Present situation and development of equipment

The application of lyophilization technology and equipment are inseparable. So far, the form of lyophilization equipment is mainly divided into two categories: intermittent and continuous. The scale of equipment is from less than one square meter to dozens of square meters.

Intermittent lyophilized drying equipment

The intermittent freeze-drying equipment is suitable for small batch production of many varieties, especially for seasonal food production in the field of food. Single machine operation, if one equipment failure, will not affect the normal operation of other equipment. Intermittent lyophilization equipment is easy to control the heating temperature and vacuum degree requirements in different stages of material drying. Equipment processing manufacturing and maintenance easy to carry out. However, because the loading, unloading, starting and other operations take up more time, so the equipment utilization rate is low, the production efficiency is not high.

Continuous lyophilized drying equipment

At home and abroad, continuous vacuum freeze drying equipment has been explored and used. Continuous equipment is suitable for the production of single variety, large output and sufficient raw materials, especially for the production of pulp and granular products. Continuous equipment is easy to achieve automatic control, simplifying manual operation and management, its main disadvantage is high cost.

With the completion of GMP certification, domestic excellent pharmaceutical lyophilization equipment has entered the modernization stage, with complete functions, reliable work and stable performance. It can realize online cleaning (CIP) or steam disinfection and sterilization (SIP), and all the technical indicators can meet the needs of biological products and drugs lyophilization production. In contrast, the varieties and specifications of foreign lyophilization equipment are more than those in China. The supporting equipment is complete, the energy saving structure is more delicate, and the production capacity of continuous lyophilization equipment is large. In order to ensure the quality and energy saving of lyophilized products, a combination of lyophilized equipment and other drying equipment, such as spray lyophilized equipment, is often used.

In the future, how to improve the efficiency of freeze-drying, shorten the drying time and save energy on the premise of ensuring the quality of products will be the goal of the majority of workers in the freeze-drying industry.