Capsules

01 02
About capsules Preparation
Definition,

03 04
Preparation of
advantages,
hard and soft
disadvantages
gelatin capsules
and types
Filling and sealing PACKING &
Filling and sealing
STORAGE
Packing and
of hard and soft storage of hard
gelatin capsules and soft gelatin
capsules
01 About capsules
What!
Capsules are solid, unit dosage forms
with drug and excipients enclosedin
asmallshellofgelatin.
There two main type of capsule: Hard
Gelatin capsule, Soft Gelatin capsule

—Types of Capsules
Advantages

1. 1.Unit dosage form.

2. 2. Mask bitter taste and unpleasant odor.
3. 3. Easy to swallow- smooth and slippery.
4. 4. Rapid release of medication in the
stomach as gelatin is readily soluble.
5. 5. They are available in wide range of
colors- attractive easy identification.
Disadvantages
● 1. Hygroscopic drugs can not be filled into
capsules, because they absorb waterfrom
capsule shell and make it brittle such that
it crumble to pieces.
● 2. Efflorescent material that lose of water
cannot be incorporated as they maycause
softening / leaching.
● 3. Highly soluble substances like
potassium chloride, potassium
bromide,ammonium chloride, etc., form
concentrated solutions on release
whichcause stomach irritation.
 02
Preparation
Preparation of Empty capsule shell
Dipping
Pair of the stainless-steel pins are
dipped into the dipping solution
maintained at 500C in a heated,
jacketed dipping pan, to
simultaneously form the caps and
bodies.
Stripping
A series of bronze jaws strip
the cap and body portions of
the capsules from the pins.
Spinning
The pins are rotated to
distribute the gelatin over the
pins uniformly and to avoid the
formation of a bead at the
capsule ends. name
Trimming
The stripped cap and body portions are
trimmed to the required length by
stationary knives. After trimming to
the right length, the cap and body
portion are joined and ejected from
the machine.
Drying
The gelatin is dried by a blast of
cool air to form a hard shells.
The pins are moved through a
series of air drying kilns to
remove water.
Polishing
Pan Polishing: Acela-cota
pan is used to dust and
polish. Cloth Dusting:
Capsule are rubbed with
cloth. Brushing: Capsule are
feed under soft rotating
brush
How to select capsule size?
How to select capsule size?
1. The amount of fill
material to be
encapsulated

2. The density and

compressibility of
the fill
To determine the size of the capsule to be used
or the fill weight for the formulation, following
relationship is used:

Capsule fill = Tapped density X Capsule weight of

formulation volume
 03
Filling and sealing
Types and steps of filling of hard gelatin
capsules

Types
Steps
• Automatic filling
machine 1.Preparing the formulation and
selecting the proper capsule size
2. Rectification of empty capsules
• Hand Operated filling 3. Separation of caps from bodies
machine 4. Filling capsule bodies

• Semi Automatic 5. Replacing caps and sealing

(optional) 6. Ejecting filled
Capsules Devices capsules 7. Cleansing and
polishing the filled capsules.
Capsule sealing
● 1. Gelatin band sealing. In this method a
dilute solution of gelatin is applied tothe
centre of the capsule (between the two
halves) which, once dried, producesa
hermetic seal.
● 2. Hydroalcoholic solvent seal. A
hydroalcoholic solution (1:1
water/ethanol) isapplied to the centre of
the capsule (between the two halves).
This softens thecapsule and, following
heating to 45oC, the interface fuses to
produce a seal.
The fill material of soft gelatin capsules

Liquids Solids
a) Water-immiscible volatile and nonvolatile liquids eg. vegetable and
Dry powders, granules,
aromaticoils, ethers, esters, alcohol and organic acids.
b) b) Water-miscible nonvolatile liquids eg. polyethylene glycols, and pellets, small tablets.
nonionic surfaceactive agents as polysorbate 80
c) C) Water-miscible and relatively nonvolatile liquids eg. Propylene glycol,
isopropylalcohol
d) d) Solutions and suspensions • Liquids to be filled must flow by gravity
at a temperature of 35 ° C. Liquids thatmigrate through the shell cannot
be encapsulated eg. water and low molecularweight water-soluble
organic compounds.
Semisolids
Pasty mass.
 04
PACKING & STORAGE
OF CAPSULES
PACKING & STORAGE OF
CAPSULES
1. Capsules should be packed in well closed
glassor plastic container & stored at
temperaturenot exceeding 300C
2. Capsules are individually protected
byenclosing in strip & blister packaging.
3. In strip packing the capsule is
hermeticallysealed within the strips of an
aluminum orplastic film. The contents are
removed from the strip pack by cutting to
separate capsules.
4. In blister packs, a press on the blister
forcesthe capsule through the backing strip.
 Thanks
• College of Pharmacy Department of
Pharmaceutics |||
• 6th semester
• Dr: Osama Madkhali
• Name: Raed Yahya Jaafari
• ID: 201908954