Freeze dryers are widely used in bioengineering, pharmaceutical industry, food industry, material science and deep processing of agricultural and sideline products. The medicine freeze dryer includes two parts: western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine.
Western medicine freeze-drying has been developed to a certain extent in China, and many larger pharmaceutical factories have freeze-drying equipment. In terms of injections, the freeze-drying process is widely used, which improves the quality and storage period of drugs, and brings benefits to both doctors and patients.
However, there are not many varieties of freeze-dried drugs at present, the product price is high, and the drying process is not advanced. In terms of traditional Chinese medicine, it is still limited to the freeze-drying of a small amount of traditional Chinese medicinal materials such as ginseng, velvet antler, yam, and cordyceps sinensis.
A large number of Chinese patent medicines have not yet adopted the freeze-drying process, which is far behind foreign countries.
A few years ago, Japan launched the "Western-made Chinese Medicine", which changed the brewing method of traditional Chinese medicine, solved the traditional Chinese medicine that cannot be made into injections or tablets, and solved the problem that traditional Chinese medicine cannot cure acute diseases. Therefore, the freeze-drying process of traditional Chinese medicine in my country And product research has great potential to be tapped.
In the field of biotechnology products, freeze-drying technology is mainly used in the production of serum, plasma, vaccines, enzymes, antibiotics, hormones and other drugs; biochemical inspection drugs, immunology and bacteriology inspection drugs; blood, bacteria, arteries, bones , skin, cornea, nerve tissue and various organs for long-term preservation.
Compared with the conventional method, the freeze-drying method has the following advantages:
*Many heat-sensitive substances will not be denatured or inactivated.
*When drying at low temperature, some volatile components in the substance are lost very little.
*During the freeze-drying process, the growth of microorganisms and the action of enzymes cannot proceed, so the original properties can be maintained.
*Due to drying in a frozen state, the volume is almost unchanged, the original structure is maintained, and the phenomenon of concentration will not occur.
*Because the moisture in the material exists in the form of ice crystals after pre-freezing, the dissolved inorganic salts originally dissolved in water are evenly distributed in the material.
During sublimation, the dissolved substances dissolved in water are precipitated, which avoids the phenomenon of surface hardening caused by the precipitation of inorganic salts carried by the migration of moisture inside the material to the surface in the general drying method.
* After drying, the material is loose and porous, and it is sponge-like. After adding water, it dissolves rapidly and completely, and it restores its original properties almost immediately.
*Since drying is carried out under vacuum with very little oxygen, some easily oxidized substances are protected.
*Drying can remove more than 95% to 99% of the moisture, so that the dried product can be stored for a long time without deterioration.
*Because the material is in a frozen state and the temperature is very low, the temperature of the heat source for heating is not high, and a heater with normal temperature or low temperature can meet the requirements.
If the freezing chamber and the drying chamber are separated, the drying chamber does not need to be insulated, and there will not be a lot of heat loss, so the utilization of thermal energy is very economical.