JPH09143205A - Treatment of chitin and/or chitosan particle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain the subject particle having a large bulk density, free from a coarse structure such as a yarn sphere, useful as a filler for a soft capsule utilized in health foods. SOLUTION: The chitin and/or chitosan particles of the bulk density of <=0.3 are treated preferably by imparting an external force of one kind selected from compression, impact, shearing and friction thereto to increase its bulk density to >=0.3. Preferably, this treatment is carried out by at least one kind of crasher selected from various crashers excluding triturator, dispersing mixer, sand mixer, mixing equipment, impact crasher, jet grinding. The treatment is preferably carried out with water and/or a water soluble organic solvent of less than 300wt.%. The obtained particles having average particle size of 500μm is preferably used.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for treating chitin and / or chitosan particles. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for producing chitin / chitosan particles that has a large bulk (bulk) specific gravity and that does not form a thread-like coarse structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Chitin, which is a raw material for chitosan, is a natural polymer contained in the shells of crabs and shrimps and is available in large quantities. Chitin has good biocompatibility, surgical sutures,
It is also used as artificial skin and food materials. or,
Chitosan, which is a derivative thereof, has unique properties, for example, basicity, moisturizing property, physiological activity, etc., and is therefore attracting attention in various fields such as flocculants of water treatment technology, cosmetic raw materials, medical materials, and food materials. There is.

[0003]

In the field of food materials, chitin and / or chitosan (hereinafter referred to as chitin / chitosan) is used as a health food in which a dispersion of this in oil is filled in a soft capsule. It is used. As the chitin / chitosan for filling the soft capsule, a powder crushed to about 83 mesh with a hammer mill or the like is used. In order to fill a limited amount of soft capsules with chitin / chitosan, it is necessary to disperse chitin / chitosan in oil at a high concentration.

However, this powdered chitin / chitosan has a low bulk (bulk) specific gravity of about 0.2, and there is a limit in dispersing it in oil at a high concentration. Further, this powdered chitin / chitosan is partially fibrous, and becomes entangled during various processes to form a thread-like coarse structure, which becomes an obstacle in the soft capsule filling process. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide chitin / chitosan particles having a large bulk specific gravity and having no thread-like coarse structure.

[0005]

The above object is achieved by the present invention described below. That is, the present invention has a bulk specific gravity of 0.3.
The chitin / chitosan particles having a bulk specific gravity of 0.3 or more are treated by applying at least one external force selected from compression, impact, shearing and friction to the chitin / chitosan particles of less than It is a method of treating particles.

[0006]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to embodiments of the invention. The chitin / chitosan used in the present invention is easily available on the market and is not particularly limited. Chitin / chitosan is usually pulverized with a hammer mill or the like to have a particle diameter of 500 μm or less before use. However, the crushed particles have a bulk specific gravity as low as about 0.2. In the present invention, the bulk specific gravity is 0.3.
The bulk specific gravity is set to 0.3 or more by subjecting chitin / chitosan particles of less than 1 to the following external force.

The particle size is previously set to 500 μm with a hammer mill or the like.
The bulk specific gravity of the chitin / chitosan particles having a bulk specific gravity of less than 0.3 crushed to the following or already crushed is 0.3.
In order to achieve the above, it is necessary to subject the particles to at least one external force selected from compression, impact, shearing and friction. The process of adding such an external force, it is necessary to use the processing means processing by the duration that the effect of external force on SL progresses gradually. Examples of such treatment means include stone mills, mills such as colloid mills, ball mills, vibrating ball mills,
Examples thereof include dispersers such as attritors, rolls and medium agitation mills, single- and twin-screw extruders, kneaders such as kneaders, mixers such as Henschel mixers, and grinders. Even if an impact type crusher that uses a high-speed rotary motion or a jet crusher that uses a high-speed air flow, such as a hammer mill or a jet mill that completes the treatment instantaneously or rapidly is used as the crusher, the effect of increasing the bulk specific gravity can be obtained I can't. The treatment time is not particularly limited, but since it depends on the bulk specific gravity of chitin / chitosan particles and the treatment means, it is necessary to continue the treatment until the bulk specific gravity reaches 0.3 or more. For example, extruder processing requires at least 3 minutes.

When chitin / chitosan particles having a bulk specific gravity of less than 0.3 are treated by the above-mentioned treatment means, the particles may be treated as they are, or the particles may be treated with water and / or a water-soluble organic solvent. You may. In the latter case, the treatment may be performed while drying water or the like, or may be dried after the treatment. The amount of water and / or water-soluble organic solvent used may be an amount sufficient to swell the chitin / chitosan particles,
It is preferably 300 with respect to the amount of the chitin / chitosan particles.
% By weight or less. If this amount is exceeded, drying during treatment or drying after treatment becomes difficult, and a thread-like coarse structure is generated, which is not preferable. As the water-soluble organic solvent, methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, butyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, propylene glycol, dipropylene glycol, glycerin, dimethylformamide,
Examples thereof include dimethylacetamide and acetone, but are not particularly limited.

[0009]

Next, the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to examples and comparative examples. In the description, parts and% are based on weight unless otherwise specified. The bulk specific gravity is 10
Chitosan was gently filled by inclining a 0 ml graduated cylinder, the filling volume and the filling weight were measured, and the filling chitosan weight (g) was divided by the filling volume (ml).

Example 1 A porcelain ball mill having a diameter of 10 cm and a volume of 1 liter was used.
A 5 mm porcelain ball was put in a predetermined amount, 50 g of chitosan (bulk specific gravity: 0.2) crushed to 83 mesh was charged, and the mixture was treated at room temperature for 5 hours. 49 g of treated chitosan was obtained and the bulk specific gravity was 0.3. Further, when sieving was performed, the chitosan particles before the treatment were formed into a thread-like coarse structure, and 60 mesh-on (non-passing) particles were present. On the other hand, the treated chitosan particles are 60-83.
The number of mesh particles increased, but no string-like coarse structure was present. Table 1 shows the results.

[0011]

[Table 1]

Example 2 A 1 liter capacity kneader was charged with 50 g of chitosan (bulk specific gravity 0.16) crushed to 83 mesh, 30 g of water and 30 g of ethyl alcohol, and dried while kneading at 70 ° C. for 5 hours under reduced pressure. . 49 g of treated chitosan was recovered. The bulk specific gravity was 0.36. The results of the sieve fraction are shown in Table 2.

[0013]

[Table 2]

Example 3 200 kg of chitosan (bulk specific gravity: 0.18) crushed to 42 mesh by using a twin screw type compression crusher
/ Hr for continuous treatment. The bulk specific gravity of the treated chitosan particles was measured and found to be 0.31. The results of the sieve fraction are shown in Table 3.

[0015]

[Table 3]

Example 4 The same treatment as in Example 1 was carried out except that chitin (bulk specific gravity: 0.22) crushed to 83 mesh was used instead of chitosan, and 49 g of treated chitin was obtained. The bulk specific gravity was 0.32. The results of the sieve fraction are shown in Table 4.

[0017]

[Table 4]

Example 5 The same procedure as in Example 2 was carried out except that chitin (bulk specific gravity: 0.22) crushed to 83 mesh was used instead of chitosan, and 49 g of treated chitin was obtained. The bulk specific gravity was 0.34. The results of the sieving are shown in Table 5.
Shown in

[0019]

[Table 5]

The relationship between the mesh and the particle size in Tables 1 to 5 is as follows. Mesh μm >42> 355 42 to 60 355 to 250 60 to 83 250 to 180 83 to 100 180 to 149 100 to 150 149 to 105 <150 <105

[0021]

According to the present invention as described above, the bulk specific gravity is applied to chitin / chitosan particles having a bulk specific gravity of less than 0.3 by applying at least one external force selected from compression, impact, shear and friction. Is 0.3 or more, chitin-chitosan particles having no thread-like coarse structure can be obtained.

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Shojiro Horiguchi 1-7-6 Nihonbashi Bakurocho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Dainichi Seika Kogyo Co., Ltd.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. Chitin and / or chitosan particles having a bulk specific gravity of less than 0.3 are treated by applying at least one external force selected from compression, impact, shearing and friction, and the bulk specific gravity of the particles is adjusted to 0. A method for treating chitin and / or chitosan particles, characterized in that the number is 3 or more. 2. The method for treating chitin and / or chitosan particles according to claim 1, wherein the treatment is a treatment by a continuous action of the external force. 3. The treatment according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the treatment is treatment with one kind selected from a grinder, a disperser, a kneader, a mixer, a crusher other than an impact crusher and a jet crusher. A method for treating chitin and / or chitosan particles. 4. The method for treating chitin and / or chitosan particles according to claim 1, wherein the particles are treated with water and / or a water-soluble organic solvent. 5. The method for treating chitin and / or chitosan particles according to claim 4, wherein the water and / or the water-soluble organic solvent is 300 wt% or less of the amount of chitin and / or chitosan particles. 6. The chitin and / or chitosan particles have an average particle diameter of 500 μm or less.
The method for treating chitin and / or chitosan particles according to the item 1.