Application and characteristics of powder conveying equipment system in pharmaceutical industry

How much do you know about the application and characteristics of powder conveying equipment systems?
In the production process of solid preparations in the pharmaceutical industry, the issue of powder conveying equipment between various production links has become an important issue in improving production processes and improving product quality. In solid preparation production enterprises in China, manual batching and manual feeding production methods are commonly used.
During this process, there are three times when people come into contact with drugs, and the materials can only be used in the next step after passing through three intermediate containers. This not only increases the labor intensity of workers and makes the process cumbersome, but more importantly, it increases the possibility of cross contamination of materials. At the same time, during the transportation equipment process, it may cause a large amount of dust, pollute the environment, and affect the health of operators. Some materials also have special properties such as flammability, explosiveness, toxicity, and harmfulness, making this method even more unsuitable. In processes such as tablet pressing and capsule filling, this situation also exists, and most domestic manufacturers still use manual feeding. The ideal transportation equipment method should be to minimize direct contact between people and materials, so that the material transportation equipment can be completed in a closed environment. This can not only save labor, reduce costs, but also avoid cross contamination, and improve the automation level of the solid preparation production process.
For the powder conveying equipment in current domestic solid formulations, we mainly summarize the following types: positive pressure conveying equipment, negative pressure conveying equipment, and elevator feeding equipment. These forms can basically meet the requirements of reducing worker labor intensity, reducing dust, and protecting materials from environmental pollution. However, each form has its own advantages and disadvantages. Below, we will briefly introduce the advantages and disadvantages of these methods. Positive pressure conveying equipment is mainly divided into two types: high-pressure conveying equipment and low-pressure conveying equipment. High pressure conveying equipment has a relatively large conveying capacity and long conveying equipment distance, However, its equipment is complex, bulky, difficult to install, and its component prices are relatively high. High pressure conveying equipment has significant wear and tear on pipelines and materials, and there is a possibility of leakage. The low-pressure conveying equipment system has relatively little wear and tear on materials, but its conveying equipment capacity is limited, and there is also a possibility of leakage. The lifting machine loading method is currently widely used by pharmaceutical manufacturers, but it occupies a large area, consumes high energy, and has complex operation control, which is not the choice of material conveying equipment form.
Powder conveying equipment, also known as vacuum conveying equipment, uses a fully enclosed conveying equipment system to transport bulk materials (powder, particles), which completely eliminates environmental pollution and physical injury to operators caused by material leakage, as well as material pollution in the surrounding environment. It is the development direction of powder conveying equipment in recent years. There are various forms of negative pressure sources for vacuum feeding machines, such as vacuum generators, vacuum pumps, Roots blowers, etc. The advantages of vacuum generators are small size, light weight, and easy installation, which can be applied in clean factories. It uses jet technology to generate high vacuum under the action of compressed air to achieve material transportation equipment. There is no need for mechanical vacuum pumps, no lubrication components, and almost no moving parts, fully meeting GMP requirements. The pneumatic vacuum conveying equipment system is mainly used for conveying and feeding solid materials such as powders and granules in the pharmaceutical and food industries. It can be used in conjunction with main process equipment such as mixer, granulator, tablet press, coating machine, capsule filling machine, packaging machine, etc; With its continuous promotion and application in China, it will undoubtedly optimize the production process in this field, effectively reduce cross contamination and dust, and play a positive role in improving the quality of drug production.
Characteristics of powder conveying equipment:
Safety: Without the need for electrical or mechanical energy, the entire system can be controlled and operated solely through compressed air;
Simple: Automatic control, freely setting the suction and discharge time within 0-30 seconds, easy and convenient operation;
Hygiene: Comply with GMP standards and meet CIP requirements;
Lightweight: Small size, light weight, easy and fast installation;
Quiet: No vibration, low noise.
Cleaning: dust-free operation, fast and convenient cleaning and material replacement;
Economy: One machine can be used on multiple sets of equipment in turn, without the need for warm-up or standby, with low maintenance costs;
Energy saving: No need for electricity or other energy sources, no heat generation during operation, safe and explosion-proof.