Factors Affecting Granulation

The preparation process of solid preparations is inseparable from the granulation process. This process processes materials such as powder into pellets of a certain shape and size to improve the fluidity of the powder and prevent segregation of the components.

When the granulator is working, the following factors may have an effect on the granulation effect:

Pic from Max Pixel

Material characteristics

The granulating properties of the raw materials depend on the content of various ingredients in the raw materials, such as fat, cellulose, protein, starch, ash, etc., and the most important granulating properties are adhesion and lubricity. For example, a material containing a high protein has a high plasticity under the action of heat, and thus the quality of the produced particles is high.

Selection of excipients

The role of excipients in the granulation process is important. The choice of adhesive is the key to the granulation operation. If not chosen properly, it will not only affect the quality of the particles, but even the particles. The choice should be based on the wettability and solubility of the drug powder. For example, if the powder used for granulation is fine, loose in texture, dry, and has poor viscosity and low solubility in water, a more viscous adhesive should be used, and its amount is relatively large.

In addition to this there is a choice of moistening agent. The moistening agent also needs to be selected according to the characteristics of the powder.

Stirring speed

After the adhesive is added to the material, the mixture is stirred at medium and high speed, and the mixture can be stirred at a low speed after the granulation. Depending on the situation, you can also use the same speed to carry it through. If the stirring speed is increased, the particle size distribution is uniform, but the average particle diameter tends to increase. If the speed is too large, the material will stick to the wall.

Feed flow

The feed flow rate should be adjusted according to the characteristics of the granulated raw materials and the requirement towards finished product, and kept stable to ensure the normal operation of the granulator and the yield and quality of the granulated product.