Influence of the type of the high-shear granulator on the physico-chemical properties of granules

The purpose of this experiment was to compare the results of the granulation that can be achieved in different production-scale high-shear granulator models, and the characteristics and tablet-forming properties of the granules produced, in the case of a product with a high active ingredient content. We studied granules prepared in Diosna P400 and Collette Ultima Pro 600 industrial high-shear granulators. The main differences between the two machines relate to the geometry of the bowl and the positioning of the chopper and impeller. The granules produced in these machines (which have identical manufacturing capacity) have different macroscopic and microscopic structures. The aim was to create, optimize and reproduce a robust technology that furnishes granules (and the tablets formed from them) with similar physical properties in both sets of equipment. With the currently studied product, it was possible to establish the optimal ranges of the impeller and chopper speeds, the water content of the binder solution, the liquid binder flow rate, the wet massing time and the torque, thereby rendering the manufacturing process controllable and reproducible.