A Review on Influence of Spray Drying Process Parameters on the Production of Medicinal Plant Powders

GALLO LOREANA; BUCALÁ VERÓNICA

Current Drug Discovery Technologies

Bentham Science Publishers

Año: 2018

1570-1638

Medicinal plants are used by 80% of the world population as primary health care and thephytomedicine market is growing exponentially. Currently, the production of phytopharmaceuticalswith proper efficacy, safety and consistent quality constitutes a relevant challenge. The dried dosageforms of medicinal plants are preferred than liquid presentations because of their higher stability.The spray drying technology is the most employed process to produce dried extracts from medicinalplant liquid extracts. These powders need to meet certain physicochemical (e.g., moisturecontent, hygroscopicity, particle size, density, the concentration of active ingredients) and mechanical(e.g., flowability and compressibility) properties to be used in a solid pharmaceutical form. Inaddition, high process yields and good powder quality can be obtained by selecting suitable processparameters: spray drying operating conditions and type/concentration of carriers (drying coadjuvants).The optimal process parameters are strongly affected by the chemical nature of the medicinalplant extract. This review aims to give a general guide to understand the effect of the processparameters on the product properties and process yield. This guideline could help practitionersand researchers to initially select the levels of the process variables to decrease the time and cost ofthe development stage of medicinal plants powders