Process design and control in twin-screw wet granulation  

Abstract

The wet granulation is a standard process for particle coarsening, to enhance the flowability [1] for further handling. The twin screw granulation is a continuous method with numerous other advantages to enlarge particles, that has been in scientific focus for around 20 years [2-4]. Despite all efforts, the understanding of the process itself is still limited. In the end of this project, a computer software shall enable a virtual design via in silico granulation predictions. Therefore, the granulation behaviour of individual screw compartments has to be studied.

Description

A compartment of the screw configuration represents a section consisting of at least one or multiple identical screw elements with the same geometrical properties besides the element length. Its main characteristic ability thereby is to influence the underlying processes in wet granulation specifically. In the first part of this project, a test rig is to be developed which then can characterise the wet granulation behaviour of single compartments. After the description of single compartments, the interaction those has to be investigated to enable the prediction of the whole process section.

Acknowledgement

This project is made possible by the funding of the Forschungs-Gesellschaft Verfahrens-Technik e. V.

References

[1] Serno, P., P. Kleinebudde, and K. Knop, Granulieren: Grundlagen, Verfahren, Formulierungen. 2007: ECV - Editio-Cantor-Verlag.

[2] Keleb, E.I., et al., Continuous twin screw extrusion for the wet granulation of lactose. International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 2002. 239(1-2): p. 69-80.

[3] Keleb, E.I., et al., Twin screw granulation as a simple and efficient tool for continuous wet granulation. International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 2004. 273(1-2): p. 183-194

[4] Djuric, D. and P. Kleinebudde, Impact of Screw Elements on Continuous Granulation With a Twin-Screw Extruder. Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2008. 97(11): p. 4934-4942.