Most softgel videos start at the press — twin dies stamping out capsules. This one starts earlier, with the part that makes the press possible: the gel mass. The gel mass is the material the softgel shell is cast from, and on a plant-based line it is built from plant starch rather than animal gelatin. This clip follows it through mixing, cooking, and casting.
From starch to a smooth gel mass
The shell starts as plant starch. In the first stage it is dispersed and mixed — a thick, granular, pale mass worked against the vessel wall until the starch is evenly wetted. It is then cooked into the smooth, uniform gel mass you see in the second stage: no lumps, an even body, the consistency the casting step needs. AMYLOM’s shell is built on hydroxypropyl starch, so the whole gel mass is gelatin-free from the first stage on.
Fed to the spreader box
Once the gel mass is ready it is held warm and fed through an insulated line — the hose in the third stage — to the spreader box. The spreader box lays the gel mass down as a thin, even film on the casting drum, where it sets into the shell ribbon. That ribbon is what the encapsulation die presses into softgels; two ribbons, one from each side, meet at the die to form the seam. Casting a clean, uniform ribbon from a plant-starch gel mass is the step that decides shell thickness and clarity downstream.
Why show the upstream half
The encapsulation line is the part everyone films, but the shell is made or lost before it gets there. A gel mass that cooks unevenly or casts a ribbon of varying thickness shows up later as weak seams, distorted capsules, or hazy shells. Showing the gel-mass prep is how we make the point that a plant-based softgel is a process, not just a recipe.
AMYLOM (Amylom Biotechnology) manufactures plant-based softgels with gelatin-free hydroxypropyl starch shells, for supplements, cosmetics, and specialty formats. See our softgel capabilities or talk to our team about a plant-based softgel project.
