Application Bulletin AP12
Quadro Comil
 

SIZE REDUCTION OF COMPACTED PRODUCT (ROLLER COMPACTOR)
 

Background / Requirement

In the dry tablet manufacturing process, tablets are formed from completely dry mixes. This is possible for certain types of formulation. The dry powder mixtures are pre-compressed, size reduced to granules and then re-compacted in the tablet press. The pre-compression stage can be accomplished with various types of equipment. A pharmaceutical company approached Quadro to assist them in size reducing the compacted sheets generated by their roller compactor in the pre-compression stage. The customer was using a hammermill and found that it created too many fines. The compacted sheets must be size reduced with minimal fines to a specified particle size distribution for final tableting.

Comil Performance

Size reduction of compacted product has been a very successful application for the Quadro Comil. Installations are numerous and varied as to the types of tablets being manufactured and the particle size of the final product required. The Comil was used to replace the hammermill in the customer’s roller compactor to reduce fines generation. Many components for the Comil® have been developed specially for size reduction of compacted product in order to reduce fines generation and boost capacity. In addition to the better particle size distribution, the customer also enjoyed the additional benefits of the Comil’s low dust, low noise, low energy, quick screen change operation.

Summary

The Comil has proven itself as ideal for sizing compacted product due to its low fines generation, low RPM, low energy, low noise, and its ability to be choke (flood) fed resulting in low dust and high throughput. Further, solid stainless steel construction and superb cleanability are other advantages of the Comil within the Pharmaceutical Industry.