GRANULATION OF FINE POWDER BY FLUIDIZED - BED TECHNIQUE

Abstract

Fluidized bed granulation process has attracted interest in recent years. One of the main advantages of this process over the conventional granulation methods is that different operations such as granulation, mixing, evaporation, and drying are performed in one vessel. Batch of a mixture (4:1) of lactose and starch which is a common filler material in pharmaceutical industry is used as a raw material in our study. In this study we investigate the effect of operating parameters on mean particle size, particle size distribution ,and physical properties of granules. Operating .parameters are superficial gas velocity ranging from 1.5 to 3.5 m£, bed load ranging from l to 1.5 Kg, nozzle height above distributor ranging from 25 to 45 cm, inlet air temperature ranging from 30 to 60 c. Two types of binder solution are used gelatine and sodium carboxy methyl cellulose with different concentration ranging from 2 $% to 8 % w/w for gelatine and from 0.5 % to 1.25 % w/w for sodium carboxy methyl cellulose. Binder -solution flow rate ranging from minimum and critical binder solution flow rate (3 to 5 ml/min) with quantity of binder solution ranging from 110 to 213 ml, and air atomization mass flow rate ranging from 19.75 to 27.2 g/min are used.