Innovation in Effervescent Product Manufacturing and Packaging

The effervescence producing products are popular in nutritional supplement, pharmaceutical, food, detergents and agrochemicals. The fizziness is caused by acid and base such as citric acid and sodium bicarbonate reacting in the presence of water. Citric acid in effervescent products absorbs moisture when exposed to air and a reaction between acid and base starts to produce water and carbon dioxide. This water further destabilises the product by helping further reaction between remaining acid and base. To prevent citric acid from absorbing moisture during manufacturing, the manufacturing area is maintained at low humidity conditions. The products are packed in moisture resistant packaging such as plastic tube with silica to absorb moisture, this adds around 18G plastic to the waste per 20 tablets. This collectively makes manufacturing and packaging expensive and damaging to the environment.

We have developed EfferShield technology uses non hygroscopic cocrystal form of citric acid. The moisture resistant cocrystal of citric acid does not react with the base till it is added to the water. The moisture resistant behaviour of EfferShield allows packaging in the eco-friendly water soluble polymer film or plastic free packaging. This will significantly reduce plastic waste issue. Another issue with effervescent products is high level of sodium which may is bad for blood pressure and heart conditions. As EfferShield does not react at low humidity it requires less sodium bi-carbonate and in turn has less sodium levels. We aim to develop EfferShield with at least 50% less sodium and packaged in edible seaweed sachet. This will provide significant health and environmental benefits apart from manufacturing advantages.

Octopoda Innovation, an innovation based start-up which has licensed-in the patent rights of EfferShield from University of Bradford is leading this proposal. Health Innovations will scale-up the process of manufacturing of EfferShield. The outcomes of this proposal will provide commercialisation confidence and open up opportunity for new export markets.