Characterizing powders rheology and triboeletric properties for continuous manufacturing applications

GranuTools was present in 2 sessions at the #PBP World Meeting. In the first session, GranuTools highlighted the importance of investigating the influence of the processing conditions on the rheology and flow properties of powders. The GranuDrum appears as a key instrument to characterize the rheological behaviour of pharmaceutical powders to predict their flowability in various processing conditions.

Introduction: Minimizing the variability in the feeding process of pharmaceutical powders (API and excipients) is a key challenge in continuous manufacturing (CM) to ensure good/acceptable and consistent product quality1. It is known that the flowing properties of powders influence drastically the process consistency. In particular, the triboelectrification of powders is known to influence the material flowing properties and can lead to serious complications2. Therefore, there is a crucial need to precisely characterize the flowability and to assess the triboelectrification behavior of powders.

In continuous manufacturing applications, powders are processed in different conditions of stress state and flow field (hopper, feeders,…). Therefore, it is important to study the flow properties of pharmaceutical powders as a function of the processing conditions. To this end, we used a GranuDrum to gain better understanding of the influence of the processing conditions on the rheology and flow properties of powders. In parallel, we used a GranuCharge instrument to measure the initial charge and the triboelectrification of powders after flowing through a pipe, similarly as the feeding process in CM.

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Conclusions:

• The GranuDrum instrument allows measuring the flowability and the rheology of pharmaceutical powders.
• We show that additives (Mesoporous Silica) are able to modify the rheology of powders.
• The GranuCharge instrument allows measuring the triboelectrification of pharmaceutical powders flowing through different materials (Stainless steel, PVC, PE, …).
• We show that small amount of additives (MPS) can significantly reduce the electrostatic charges of excipients.

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Article information: Sebastien Depaifve, Aurélien Neveu, Filip Francqui, Geoffroy Lumay. GranuTools, Rue Jean-Lambert Defrêne, 107, 4340 Awans, Belgium. GRASP Laboratory, CESAM Research Unit, University of Liège, Belgium.