Numerical investigation on the influence of air flow in a die filling process

Experimental and Discrete Element Model Investigation of Limestone Aggregate Blending Process in Vertical Static and/or Conveyor Mixer for Application in the Concrete Mixture

The numerical model of the granular flow within an aggregate mixture, conducted in the vertical static and/or the conveyor blender, was explored using the discrete element method (DEM) approach. The blending quality of limestone fine aggregate fractions binary mixture for application in self-compacting concrete was studied. The potential of augmenting the conveyor mixer working efficiency by joining its operation to a Komax-type vertical static mixer, to increase the blending conduct was investigated. In addition the impact of the feed height on the flow field in the cone-shaped conveyor mixer was examined using the DEM simulation. Applying the numerical approach enabled a deeper insight into the quality of blending actions, while the relative standard deviation criteria ranked the uniformity of the mixture. The primary objective of this investigation was to examine the behavior of mixture for two types of blenders and to estimate the combined blending action of these two mixers, to explore the potential to augment the homogeneity of the aggregate fractions binary mixture, i.e., mixing quality, reduce the blending time and to abbreviate the energy-consuming.

Model-Based Scale-Up Methodologies for Pharmaceutical Granulation

In the pharmaceutical industry, it is a major challenge to maintain consistent quality of drug products when the batch scale of a process is changed from a laboratory scale to a pilot or commercial scale. Generally, a pharmaceutical manufacturing process involves various unit operations, such as blending, granulation, milling, tableting and coating and the process parameters of a unit operation have significant effects on the quality of the drug product. Depending on the change in batch scale, various process parameters should be strategically controlled to ensure consistent quality attributes of a drug product. In particular, the granulation may be significantly influenced by scale variation as a result of changes in various process parameters and equipment geometry. In this study, model-based scale-up methodologies for pharmaceutical granulation are presented, along with data from various related reports. The first is an engineering-based modeling method that uses dimensionless numbers based on process similarity. The second is a process analytical technology-based modeling method that maintains the desired quality attributes through flexible adjustment of process parameters by monitoring the quality attributes of process products in real time. The third is a physics-based modeling method that involves a process simulation that understands and predicts drug quality through calculation of the behavior of the process using physics related to the process. The applications of these three scale-up methods are summarized according to granulation mechanisms, such as wet granulation and dry granulation. This review shows that these model-based scale-up methodologies provide a systematic process strategy that can ensure the quality of drug products in the pharmaceutical industry.