Lecithin is widely used as an emulsifier and solubilizer in the food, feed, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries and has many other industrial uses. It is also known that it has useful therapeutic properties when used in a dietary supplement. For example, lecithin should lower cholesterol level.
Within the master's thesis, sunflower lecithin granules were made using the method of wet extrusion. The aim was to produce granules with the highest proportion of lecithin, good flowability and proper particle size distribution. Sunflower lecithin Lipoid H20 was used as input material. We tested the influence of the use of various excipients and the use of different manufacturing processes on the resulting granules. We tried to prepare the granules with high shear granulation, oscillating granulation and wet extrusion, followed by granulation on an oscillating granulator or grinding on a mill. The last technology used proved to be the best because it ensured high proportion of lecithin in granules, suitable size and distribution of granules and appropriate rheological characteristics of granules.
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