A membrane-forming composition, soft and hard capsules prepared based on the composition and the preparation methods are described. The membrane-forming composition includes pullulan polysaccharide, gellan gum, amino acid moisturizing agent, anti-hygroscopic agent and so on. It is suitable for the fabrication of hard or soft capsules. The membrane-forming composition can gelate without alkali metal ions. It has a high moisture retention rate which makes it not easy to take up moisture and turn soft in high humid environment, and it will not turn yellow during long time storage. Furthermore, the membrane-forming composition is made up of pure natural materials.

Near-infrared fluorescent dye-loaded microspheres and a formulation thereof that include a complex of a near-infrared fluorescent dye and human serum albumin or cyclodextrin loaded into polymer microspheres, optionally with a hydrogel polymer. The near-infrared fluorescent dye-loaded microspheres are used in a method of marking lesions for accurately identifying the location of lesion sites from fluorescence imaging during surgery. The method involves injecting the microspheres into lesion sites in a subject, such as cancer. The intensity of fluorescence generated from the microspheres is stronger than that when microspheres are prepared using a near-infrared fluorescent dye alone, the stability of the fluorescent dye in the microspheres is improved, and the marked sites can be identified through fluorescent imaging for a long period of time, increasing the accuracy of surgery for lesion excision, and shortening the time required for surgery.

Comestible products, for example beverage products, are disclosed containing encapsulated probiotic bacteria having resistance to subjection to at least thermal and acidic conditions. Beverage products include at least one aqueous liquid and capsules comprising a gelled mixture of alginate and denatured protein, and probiotic bacteria entrapped within the gelled mixture. The average particle size of the capsules is optionally less than 1000 microns (m) in diameter, such as less than 500 m in diameter. Methods are provided for making such encapsulated probiotics by providing a mixture comprising sodium alginate, denatured protein and active probiotic cells, and combining the mixture with a divalent cation to initiate cold gelation of the sodium alginate and denatured protein to form a second mixture. The second mixture is passed through an opening having a diameter of less than 1000 m to form capsules. The weight ratio of protein to alginate is from 1:1 to 9:1.

The invention is directed to a seamless alginate capsule having a film encapsulating a fill material, in which the film comprises alginate, noncrystallizing plasticizer, and glycerol and in which a ratio by weight of noncrystallizing plasticizer to glycerol in the film is between about 1:1 and about 8:1. The invention is also directed to a method of making the seamless alginate capsules and to capsules made by the method. The capsules have excellent breaking strength and are resistant to oxidation of the fill material.

Microencapsulation of bioactive and chemical cargo in a stable, cross-linked polymer matrix is presented that results in small particle sizes and is easily scaled-up for industrial applications. A formulation of a salt of an acid soluble multivalent ion, an acid neutralized with a volatile base and one or more monomers that cross-link in the presence of multivalent ions is atomized into droplets. Cross-linking is achieved upon atomization where the volatile base is vaporized resulting in a reduction of the pH of the formulation and the temporal release of multivalent ions from the salt that cross-link the monomers forming a capsule. The incorporation of additional polymers or hydrophobic compounds in the formulation allows control of hydration properties of the particles to control the release of the encapsulated compounds. The operational parameters can also be controlled to affect capsule properties such as particle-size and particle-size distribution.

Disclosed herein is a gelation device for gelling capsules. The gelation device includes a tubular column having a longitudinal axis extending along an axial direction of the tubular column a bottom portion and, a head portion. The bottom portion includes a first fluid inlet for introducing a dispersed phase into the tubular column and a second fluid inlet for introducing a continuous phase into the tubular column. The head portion includes a fluid outlet for removing gelled capsules from the tubular column and a stirring device being arranged inside the tubular column. The stirring device includes one or more stirring elements which each are longitudinally arranged inside the tubular column and which are each rotatable around the longitudinal axis of the tubular column and are configured to provide for a radial mixing of the dispersed phase and the continuous phase.

Disclosed herein is a capsule gelation quenching unit for suspending capsule gelation, the capsule gelation quenching unit including a tubular column including a longitudinally arranged dispersion channel, wherein the dispersion channel is configured for transporting a dispersion of gelled capsules in a continuous phase along a longitudinal direction of the tubular column through the tubular column, and wherein the tubular column further includes a first mesh unit; a cross-flow fluid inlet unit, wherein the cross-flow fluid inlet unit is configured such that a cross-flow fluid can be introduced into the dispersion channel such that the introduced cross-flow fluid flows transversely to the longitudinal direction of the tubular column; and wherein the cross-flow fluid inlet unit is configured such that the cross-flow fluid flows through the first mesh unit.

Microencapsulation of bioactive and chemical cargo in a stable, cross-linked polymer matrix is presented that results in small particle sizes and is easily scaled-up for industrial applications. A formulation of a salt of an acid soluble multivalent ion, an acid neutralized with a volatile base and one or more monomers that cross-link in the presence of multivalent ions is atomized into droplets. Cross-linking is achieved upon atomization where the volatile base is vaporized resulting in a reduction of the pH of the formulation and the temporal release of multivalent ions from the salt that cross-link the monomers forming a capsule. The incorporation of additional polymers or hydrophobic compounds in the formulation allows control of hydration properties of the particles to control the release of the encapsulated compounds. The operational parameters can also be controlled to affect capsule properties such as particle-size and particle-size distribution.

The invention teaches a method of efficiently dewatering a microcapsule slurry to form a water re-suspendable filter cake of microcapsules. The process comprises providing an aqueous slurry of microcapsules dispersed in an aqueous solution; adding an agglomeration agent and dispersing the agglomeration agent into the aqueous slurry; adjusting the pH to a pH level sufficient to agglomerate the dispersed microcapsules; and filtering the aqueous slurry of microcapsules by gravity, vacuum or pressure filtration to thereby form a filter cake of dewatered microcapsules. The agglomeration agent is sodium polyphosphate, sodium tetrapolyphosphate, sodium hexametaphosphate, and/or sodium tripolyphosphate; or with anionic microcapsules or coatings even alkaline earth metal salts such as magnesium chloride, calcium chloride or barium chloride, or even aluminum salt such as aluminum chloride.

A method of forming a capsule, comprising: encapsulating a body of solid core material with a coating material and converting the core material from a solid to a liquid to form a capsule having a liquid core encapsulated by a solid coating. An apparatus configured to perform the method is also described.