Packaging

How to process powder efficiently

Monday 20. April 2020 - The pharmaceutical industry has the highest demands on the production process - ystral technology is the answer. Many pharmaceutical products are manufactured on the basis of powders or are refined by such powders. Be it gels, ointments or suspensions, the coating of tablets or in the production of granulates. Powders and powder mixtures of all kinds are used. The most important thing for processors: Not only must the quality be right, but the results must also be reliably reproducible and subordinate to the often meticulously coordinated specifications of the process chain. This is where the strengths of ystrals technology come into play.

For manufacturing companies in the pharmaceutical and chemical industry, it is often a question of being able to produce the widest possible range of batch sizes on a single system. Off-the-shelf machines and plants are the wrong approach. “Our plants are tailored precisely to the customer’s requirements”, explains Denis Hunn, process and application engineer at ystral. This means that the system must be versatile and easy to clean. Pharmaceutical cleaning processes (CIP, WIP, SIP) are the most demanding in the industry.
Traditional agitators hold risks
Conventional technology quickly reaches its limits there. Dissolvers or traditional stirrers do not manage to evenly wet powdered fillers without forming agglomerates or air inclusions.
The solution is a system that completely wets and optimally disperses powder particles in both liquid and viscous media. This is achieved by the Conti-TDS from ystral. It is used for the production of all solvent-based and aqueous coating suspensions. The powder is drawn in via a suction lance or directly from the container. The powder only comes into contact with the liquid in the dispersion zone. There the dispersion takes place under massive shearing action and vacuum.
The Conti-TDS generates its suction effect directly in the liquid. This means that the operator’s contact with the materials is completely avoided. After the powder feed, the powder inlet is closed. The Conti-TDS can then be used as an inline dispersing machine or for further degassing. It can be installed either on existing vessels or in complete plants.
Less effort, better result
With the Conti-TDS, a production of dispersions and emulsions with particle or droplet sizes in the nanometer range is possible. Because the formation of agglomerates is avoided, a higher product quality is achieved. In addition, wetting and dispersion are carried out at considerably lower temperatures than with conventional technology. This advantage is often beneficial in subsequent process steps.
The suspensions produced with the Conti-TDS thus show a 90 percent increased storage stability. This means that the coating process can be carried out for hours or even days after production, even without a separate agitator in the receiver tank. The energy consumption is almost two thirds lower than when using conventional technology – with higher quality. Better handling compared to conventional technology is a further advantage.