Beyond powders: why ingredient format is a formulation decision
Two ingredients can share a specification and still behave differently in a tablet, a sachet or a beverage. The difference is usually the format.
Granules, pellets, microencapsulated, spray-dried, enhanced-solubility and liposomal ingredient formats — what each format is, and which formulation requirement it addresses: stability, dispersibility, bioavailability, convenience and application performance.
These formats allow us to address different requirements for stability, dispersibility, bioavailability, formulation convenience and application performance.
A specification describes what is in an ingredient. It does not describe how the ingredient flows in a hopper, whether it survives a year on a shelf, how it disperses in water, or what it does to the taste of a beverage. Those are properties of the physical format, and they are engineered separately.
Powder → Granule → Pellet → Microcapsule → Liposome
Beyond conventional powders, our technology platform is designed to support a range of formats.
The formats
- GranulesAgglomerated particles for flow and handling.
- PelletsUniform spherical units for dosage-form flexibility.
- Microencapsulated ingredientsActives enclosed within a protective matrix or shell.
- Spray-dried ingredientsLiquids converted into fine dry powders by atomisation.
- Enhanced-solubility systemsSystems designed to improve how an ingredient disperses or dissolves.
- Liposomal ingredientsIngredients carried within phospholipid vesicles.
Matching a format to a requirement
These formats allow us to address different requirements for stability, dispersibility, bioavailability, formulation convenience and application performance. In practice a format is chosen against whichever of those the application is most sensitive to:
- StabilityHow well the ingredient holds its properties through processing, packaging and shelf life.
- DispersibilityHow readily it distributes through the medium it is added to.
- BioavailabilityHow much of the ingredient is available to the body from the delivered form.
- Formulation convenienceHow easily it fits an existing process, dosage form and line.
- Application performanceHow it behaves in the finished product — taste, texture, appearance, processability.
One standardized ingredient, four application worlds — each with its own format constraints.
Format follows the application
A nutraceutical capsule, a cosmetic emulsion, a veterinary feed pellet and a functional beverage place different demands on the same standardized ingredient. Our botanical platform can support multiple industries, which is why the format conversation usually begins with the application rather than the extract.
We can work with customers along the whole path: botanical, extract, standardization, format, specification, application.
One botanical platform, multiple industries.
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