Achievement

J. Osorio, Trainee, directed by Dr. F. Muzzio, Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, is researching on new technologies for continuous and batch powder mixing of pharmaceutical products. Continuous powder mixing is implemented for continuous manufacturing of solid dosage forms. A new continuous mixer has been characterized using bulk properties. The characterization of powder hold-up, mean residence time and blend homogeneity has been completed. Final blends produced in the continuous mixer are being studied at a micro-scale level using near-infrared imaging to understand the micromixing and particle interactions that affect blend homogeneity and performance in consecutive processes. In the same line of study, an in-line NIR imaging method was used to characterize the batch blending process using a bin-blender. Using NIR imaging enables further understanding of the blending progression at a micro-scale to correlate the quality of final blends to consecutive processes such as tableting.