Continuous wet granulator and dryer for R&D

Pharmaceutical laboratories need compact equipment to handle and produce small amounts of granules from a mixture of wet and dry elements for R&D applications. Furthermore, the granulation process requires short residence times in drying the products to easily identify and remove the defects without discarding the entire batch.

Automatic feeding, granulating, and quick drying of pharmaceutical  products

The QbCon 1 from L.B. Bohle is a continuous wet granulating and drying system for pharmaceutical laboratory scale applications. The system performs three processes: feeding, granulating, and drying. It features a twin screw granulator with a hinged barrel for easy access to its parts. The unit comes with a multi-position feeder and interchangeable ports, ensuring accurate gravimetric feeding of dry powder and using a pulsation-free pressurized feeder for granulation liquid.

The wet granules are gently dried by a moving fluid bed that provides short residence times and consistent product output. Its narrow residence time distribution allows easy traceability from the initial product to the final tablet or vice versa. The drying process parameters, such as airflow, temperature, and conveying speed, can be controlled and adjusted according to product requirements. The system allows for sampling wet and dry granulations without interrupting the ongoing processes. The system also has an innovative filter cleaning system to prevent clogging for longer hours of operation. The unit also features a complete WIP (Wash-in-Place) cleaning.

Benefits

  • Throughputs of 0.5 to 2.5 kg/h range
  • Simple and safe scale-up from R&D to production scale
  • Can operate continuously and uninterrupted for a long time (more than 8 hours)
  • Gentle and uniform drying of granules with short residence time
  • Small footprint