Granulation requires several types of equipment, all designed to produce larger particles from fine powders.

Common tablet granulation machine equipment includes mixer granulators, where powder is stirred by an impeller in the base of a mixing bowl; and fluid bed granulators where air is blown through powder particles to agglomerate them and create a thin film between particles.

Wet Granulation

Wet granulation is a commonly employed granulation machine technique in pharmaceutical manufacturing. This procedure consists of four main steps – prepping the material, wetting the powder, nucleating and drying the granules.

During the wet granulation process, various equipment is utilized. These include buckets, trays and shakers.

These equipment is used for collecting materials during granulation. Additionally, it helps isolate the blending chamber from its environment outside.

Some of these equipment’s can be automated, while others need manual filling.

Once a certain amount of material is loaded, the vacuum valve will close and the exhaust valve will open. At that point, both the chopper and impeller will begin to rotate.

Granulation by hand is considered less laborious and time-consuming than other methods, however it may lead to material losses due to attrition.

Dry Granulation

Dry granulation is an efficient powder forming process that produces compacted flakes without the use of liquid binders, cutting down on energy consumption and labor costs at the same time.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers use this process to improve material flow ability, prevent particle segregation and enable faster and more precise feeding into tablet presses. Furthermore, it helps improve tablet and capsule quality by guaranteeing their proper weight, strength and particle distribution.

Granulation is the process in which bulk materials are introduced into a funnel and passed through rotating rollers. The force applied to this material compacts it into an even mass that can then be size separated and separated with a mill.

This process can be accomplished using either a fixed roller compactor or variable gap roller compactor. Variable gap roller compactors are ideal for applications requiring high reproducibility. Furthermore, they enable monitoring granule porosity at constant compaction pressure – leading to consistent slug production.

Continuous Granulation

Continuous granulation is a technique in which powders are expanded into tiny granules. This step can be beneficial when producing solid dosage powder mixes, as it improves flow properties, homogeneity and compressibility.

This process ensures all necessary ingredients are mixed thoroughly and an even distribution throughout the mixture is achieved. Furthermore, it helps reduce powder segregation into individual components.

Granulation can also be used to alter the particle size of materials that contain particularly small or irregular-shaped particles, making them easier to transport and/or store.

A continuous wet granulation process can be applied to many solid dosage powder mixes, from the most straightforward formulations to complex ones. It has applications across numerous fields of pharmaceutical manufacturing, from oral drugs to oral liquids. This method offers an efficient and economical means of creating solid dosage powders.

Laboratory Granulation

Granulation is the process in which raw materials are mixed with a liquid binder to create an amalgam that forms a cohesive powder. This slurry then passes through a granulation drum to produce tiny grains of grain.

Laboratory granulation machines come in various sizes, from small to large, depending on the products requirements. They’re commonly used for granulation and drying applications in food, pharmaceutical and chemical industries.

A dry laboratory granulator is a device that compacts powder dry compaction between two counter-revolving rollers under high pressure to create flakes or dense sheets of ingredients. Once formed, these particles can then be reduced in size to achieve the desired grain size.

Conclusion

When selecting a laboratory granulator, the size is determined by both required bulk density and feedstock moisture content. These factors combine to determine volumetric throughput as well as how much energy the granulation drum requires in order to operate efficiently.