It is important to note that the choice of which pharmaceutical drying equipment to use stems from whether a wet solid, a solution, or a suspension needs to be dried.

Using fluid bed dryers for drying wet solids in the pharma industry

When it comes to drying granules that will then be pressed to form tablets, the fluidized bed dryer is one of the pharmaceutical drying equipment manufacturers use. Fluid bed dryers use a stream of hot air to reduce the moisture content of powders and granules, making them a great example of direct dryers. What does this mean? Direct dryers directly apply heated air to the product, while indirect dryers conductively heat the product by circulating heated fluid through a surface that is in contact with the product.

Freeze drying used to prolong the shelf life of pharmaceutical products

What about spray dryers and vacuum dryers?

Spray dryers are widely used pharmaceutical drying equipment to produce pharmaceutical powders with particle sizes from the nanometer to the micrometer scale. Spray drying is a continuous process by nature since it can convert a liquid feed into a powder in a single step.

A viable option for heat- or oxygen-sensitive pharmaceutical products is the vacuum drying process that reduces the risk of dust explosions. Vacuum dryers fall in the category of conductive dryers used for drying wet solids.

Pharmaceutical drying and its different applications

Drying active pharmaceutical ingredients (API)

From R&D to large-scale industry, pharmaceutical drying plays an essential role because it dramatically affects the quality of the final product both in primary pharmaceutical manufacturing, i.e., production of API or excipients, and in secondary pharmaceutical manufacture, i.e. when converting the active drugs into the final dosage form such as tablets or capsules. The drying of crystalline active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) is often needed to produce free-flowing powders for formulation, packaging, storage, and transport. The sensitive nature of API requires gentle drying in contained good manufacturing practice (GMP) environments.