Mechanistic modelling of the drying behaviour of single pharmaceutical granules

Publication: Research - peer-reviewJournal article – Annual report year: 2012

  • Author: Thérèse F.C. Mortier, Séverine

    Department of Mathematical Modelling, Statistics and Bioinformatics, Ghent University

  • Author: Beer, Thomas De

    Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, Ghent University

  • Author: Gernaey, Krist

    Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Søltofts Plads, 2800, Kgs. Lyngby

  • Author: Vercruysse, Jurgen

    Department of Pharmaceutics, Ghent University

  • Author: Fonteyne, Margot

    Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, Ghent University

  • Author: Remon, Jean Paul

    Department of Pharmaceutics, Ghent University

  • Author: Vervaet, Chris

    Department of Pharmaceutics, Ghent University

  • Author: Nopens, Ingmar

    Department of Mathematical Modelling, Statistics and Bioinformatics, Ghent University

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The trend to move towards continuous production processes in pharmaceutical applications enhances
the necessity to develop mechanistic models to understand and control these processes. This work
focuses on the drying behaviour of a single wet granule before tabletting, using a six-segmented fluidised
bed drying system, which is part of a fully continuous from-powder-to-tablet manufacturing line. The
drying model is based on a model described by Mezhericher et al. [1] and consists of two submodels.
In the first drying phase (submodel 1), the surface water evaporates, while in the second drying phase
(submodel 2), the water inside the granule evaporates. The second submodel contains an empirical power
coefficient, b. A sensitivity analysis was performed to study the influence of parameters on the moisture
content of single pharmaceutical granules, which clearly points towards the importance of b on the drying
behaviour. Experimental data with the six-segmented fluidised bed dryer were collected to calibrate
b. An exponential dependence on the drying air temperature was found. Independent experiments were
done for the validation of the drying model.
Original languageEnglish
JournalEuropean Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics
Publication date2012
Volume80
Pages682-689
ISSN0939-6411
DOIs
StatePublished
CitationsWeb of Science® Times Cited: 2

Keywords

  • Mechanistic modelling, Drying, Porous material, Pharmaceutical granules, Model calibration, Model validation

ID: 7582926