COATING

Coating is a covering (film coating) that is applied to the surface of a particle or a tablet for different purposes.
The motivation for coating dosage forms range goes from:

• Colour and gloss.
• Improving the stability (light protection, moisture and gas barrier)
• Making it easier to swallow the tablet.

In addition, functional coatings can be used to modify the drug release behavior from the dosage form. Depending on the polymers used it is possible either delay the release of the drug or use the coating to sustain the release of the drug from the dosage form over extended periods of time.

STE TECPHARM offers a wide range of systems for tablet or particle coating depending on its application

TABLET COATER with Perforated Pan

FLUIDIZED BED COATER with Bottom Spray System

GRANULATION

Granulation refers to the process in which primary dust particles are made to adhere to form larger entities of multiple particles called granules.
In this process of wet granulation, the granules are formed by adding an agglutinative solution. The granulation solution contains a solvent or carrier material that must be volatile so that it can be removed by drying and not being toxic. Typical fluids include water, ethanol, and isopropanol alone or in combination. The liquid solution can be aqueous or solvent-based. Aqueous solutions have the advantage of being safer to treat than other solvents.
The granulation process combines one or more dust particles and forms a granule that will allow the formation of tablets within the required limits. In this way a predictable and repeatable process is possible and quality tablets can be produced using the STE TECPHARM technology.

STE TECPHARM offers a wide range of systems for wet granulation depending on its application

HIGH SHEAR MIXER GRANULATOR

FLUIDIZED BED GRANULATOR with Top Spray System

COMPLET GRANULATION LINE High Shear Mixer Granulator + Fluidized Bed Dryer

DRYING

The drying process is carried out in fluid-bed Dryers. Its an equipment used extensively in the pharmaceutical industry to reduce moisture content of powder and granules.
The equipment works on a principle of fluidization of the feed materials.
In fluidization process, hot air is introduced at defined pressure and flow rate through a perforated bed of moist solid particles. The wet solids are lifted from the bottom and suspended in a stream of air (fluidized state).
Heat transfer is accomplished by direct contact between the wetted solid and hot gases. The vaporized liquid is carried away by the drying gasses.
STE TECPHARM offers a wide range from R&D to industrial sizes of Fluid Bed Dryers, with also the possibility of Granulation with Top Spray and Coating by means of Bottom Spray.

FLUIDIZED BED DRYER

MIXING

Blending powders is one of the oldest unit-operations in the solids handling industries. For many decades powder blending has been used just to homogenize bulk materials.
Many different machines have been designed to handle materials with various bulk solids properties. On the basis of the practical experience gained with these different machines, engineering knowledge has been developed to construct reliable equipment and to predict scale-up and mixing behaviour.
Nowadays the same mixing technologies are used for many more applications: to improve product quality, to coat particles, to fuse materials, to wet, to disperse in liquid, to agglomerate, to alter functional material properties, etc.
This wide range of applications of mixing equipment requires a high level of knowledge, long time experience and extended test facilities to come to the optimal selection of equipment and processes.

MIXERS FOR SOLIDS AND POWDERS

CALIBRATING

Calibration is the action of homogenizing particle size on wet or dry granulated products in order to improve efficiency on different process steps on Pharmaceutical applications.
The main application of in-line or standalone calibrators during wet and/or dry powder granulation is to obtain a homogeneously sized granules or powder to optimize performance in Vacuum transportation, drying process, tableting, etc…
In Pharmaceutical Industry the main use of calibrators is to disaggregate raw materials to improve and simplify the mixing and granulation process.
At STE TECPHARM we also install our calibrators in-line on the discharging point of our HIGH SHEAR MIXERS GRANULATORS (STE TP-G) to homogenize the wet granules size to avoid the transfer of large particles and lumps in to fluid bed Dryer (transfer carried out by vacuum) or tray dryers to obtain homogeneous drying processes.
Once the product is dry STE TECPHARM offers the possibility to install a Dry product Calibrator in-line on the discharging of our Fluidized Bed Dryers (STE TP-S) to homogenize particle size, to ensure performance of the granulated product for Compression on tableting, or capsule filling.

MILL CALIBRATORS