The roller compaction process has been among the most important innovations in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. Over 75 % of pharmaceutical formulations are in the form of tablets and capsules. These are comprised of different active ingredients which exhibit different physical and chemical characteristics.
The roller compactor serves to compact and granulate the powders. This compaction process makes the resulting granules to have better flowability and higher density easily and economically processed into tablets and capsules.
When the roller compaction process is done, the resulting advantages are;
- Accurate and precise dosage is achieved
- Health hazards associated with processing such as chemical dust are reduced.
- Machine durability is enhanced when dust is kept at minimum
- Homogenous product is achieved
- Dispersion and solubility characteristics for the product are enhance
With the market of the roll compactor machines and mini roll compactors having a wide range of technologies that ultimately achieve the same end, there have been certain operational features that put certain models ahead of the rest and thus having higher demand regionally and globally.
These features include:
Fast and Efficient Feeding System
Manufacturing organisations are looking for ways and processes that will improve the production efficiency of their equipments. There is need to reduce the cost per tablet as much possible, and increase the production efficiency and maximize profit. Most equipment have been using the normal screw feeding systems which works marginally. For better feeding optimization, manufacturers have developed systems that allow air resulting from the initial compaction process to escape through a second chamber and avoid disruption of the process. This second chamber also helps recycling of the oversized and undersized granules.
Multistage granulation process:
The conventional granulators use a rotor with angled granulating bars running in a U shaped frame for pushing the product through a screen mesh to achieve granules smaller than the size of the mesh. Innovative technology advancements have led to the development of diagonally inclined granulators that increase the surface area of the granulator after the roll compactor, which is able to achieve up to 100 % effectiveness and a doubling in the equipment throughput.
Negative Pressure Air Pump:
This is an important inclusion in the pharmaceutical roller compactors as the pump helps in pre cleaning the working chamber of the machine. It helps keeping the entire working system clean and free from residual powders and machine efficiency is guaranteed.
System Automation:
In addition to efficiency, automation also guaranteed consistency of production for the entire manufacturing process. With automation, every aspect of the manufacturing is controlled including the compression force of rollers, speed of operation, mount power and many other aspects. Automation is achieved using the programmable logic control systems, automated feeding systems and very user friendly touch screen control panel.
High Precision Drive Mechanisms:
The use of the variable frequency drives (VFD) in roll compactors is an important feature sought by many users as it also ensures accuracy and consistency of the entire process.