My powder is coarse and changes properties in the presence of moisture. I want to make a tablet using this material along with some other fine powders but I do not want to compromise with the coarseness of the material. While tabletting, when the machine applies force, it gets spoiled and changes properties. due to high compression.
Can someone suggest me binders/fillers which can help me form tablet at low compression force ?
Dear Mina,
welcome,
i would propose to change the the layer structure during the compression such that you make your tablet from three layers ordered by fine powder at the bottom followed by aluminum foil then the course powder layer followed by aluminum foil separator then fine powder top layer. with aluminum at the most top layer directly contacting the piston of the press.
Then apply the pressure very gradually till you reach the required pressure
After pressing you can separate the the three pellets one coarse and two fine.
Also you can join the grains by heating while compression. In this way you achieve the pelletization at lower compression such that the grains will not be deformed.
Best wishes
Without knowing the composition of your material , binder cannot be suggested.
As your material is related to pharma field and sensitive to moisture , you should do pelletization in inert atmosphere like glove box. The pressure need to optimize for your material. Start with lowest possible pressure and then increase slowly.
Use increased amount of Colloidal Silicon dioxide. if possible increase the tablet weight by about 20-30% with high density lactose of DCP. change with a range of pre-compression forces and reduce the press speed.
You can try Polyox (poly(ethylene oxide polymer)
N-10 or N-90 as a binder, it requires significantly less compaction force than others.
Try granulation using fluid bed granulation technology in which the moisture sensitive material can be dispersed or dissolved in purified water or hydroalcoholic solvent system along with binder like PVP or HPMC E 5/E15 and sprayed on other excipients .The dried granules can be compressed to tablets.This technology should improve binding between the granules and cause smooth compression
Many thanks to all for responding. My concerns -
1) Suhani - If I disperse moisture sensitive material in purified water or hydroalcoholic solvent system, it will immediately react and loose its property.
2) Michael - Is Polyox an approved binder for food/pharma applications ?
you may do it in glove box, leave it for a while in a container with a lose lead, if it comes in small amounts and does spread around or changes the atmosphere inside a glove box. it should dry out after a while. you would be able to compress it under lower forces due to the atmosphere of the glove box too.
best is to use vacuum/Argon line before you bring the container into the glove box, since it eliminates the moisture beforehand. You would need to put it inside a long glass attached to the vacuum line/Argon line and use flame to melt it from distant level, it prevents the material to get hot or spread through the vacuum line!
Break it inside the glove box once you want to start compressing.
Polyox definitely approved for pharma applications. For food you can easy check in FDA site.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Chemistry
- Pharmacology
- Pharmaceuticals
- Drugs