Granulation and Milling
Current Research Projects
Completed Research Projects
Mechanisms of Pellet Formation in Extrusion/Spheronization
Pharmaceutical Pellets are spherical agglomerates with a smooth surface and narrow size distribution. Before being filled into a capsule or pressed into a tablet, pellets often undergo surface modifications like functional coatings. This can decrease side effects and increase safety by regulation the drug liberation.
Aims
investigation and description of the granulation mechanisms associated with spheronization
- breakage
- attrition and agglomeration
- plastic deformation
evaluation of particle dynamics within the spheronizer by particle image velocimetry (PIV)
evaluation of the influence of different material and process parameters on the events in the spheronizer
- development of a scaling model
- prediction of pellet properties
read more: Maria Evers
Dissolution Behavior of Non-isometric and Non-isotropic Particles
A challenge in the development of new active ingredients is the low water solubility of the new molecules, caused by large molecular weights and lipophilic properties. This also leads to a low bioavailability of these substances. Therefore, a more detailed understanding of the dissolution process of drug molecules is needed.
read more: Dominik Sleziona
Mechanisms of Uniaxial Powder Compression
One concept within the chemical and pharmaceutical industry is process intensification. This approach should lead to more efficient processes. In the process step “direct compression” tablets were produced by compressing dry powder without any pretreatment strep. In this work specific subareas of this simple method to manufacture tablets, namely “die filling”, “blending” and “lubrication”, should be investigated.
read more: Maren Zimmermann
Melt Milling for Bioavailability Enhancement
One of the major problems for the development of new drug substances is the poor aqueous solubility. New and innovative formulation techniques to increase the dissolution rate as well as the solubility of the drug need to be researched in order to enhance their respective bioavailability.
read more: Philip da Igreja