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Extrusion

 

     Extrusion     Extrusion

Extrusion is a technique used to process wet powder mass into homogeneous strands of material prior to spheronization. Widely used within the pharmaceutical industry, the process has many advantages, including the elimination of dust hazards.

Many pharmaceutical materials are extruded as a preliminary step before entering various other processes. Depending on the material, a simple extrusion can also be the final process required.

Our partner is the principle manufacturer of low pressure extruders for the pharmaceutical industry. Their range of extruders include gear and basket extruders as well as small screw fed die extruders that are suitable for both development and production. The choice between the different extruder types depends on the product characteristics and the properties of the extrudate required. 

Please see below for more information on Laboratory Bench Top Extruders, Floor Standing Screen Extruders and Floor Standing Gear Extruders:

 

Laboratory Bench Top Extruder 20

 

Lab Extruder 35 The image alongside shows a Extruder 20, a screen type extruder designed to replicate production extrusion on the laboratory bench top. The Extruder 20 is ideal for pharmaceutical products and formulation development.

 

 

    FEATURES

  • Simple to operate
  • Small footprint to fit easily on the bench top
  • Available with screens of 0.5 mm - 2.5 mm to complement any development program
  • Easy to scale up to cost-effective production equipment
  • Rates equivalent of up to 20 kg per hour
  • Unique system of roller extruders reduces problems caused by overheating or drying of material

 

Laboratory Variable Density Screw-Driven Extruder (VDE)

 

Lab Variable Density Screw Extruder

The Variable Density Extruder is unique in that it is the only laboratory extruder to offer both variable hole diameters and variable hole depths in both axial and radial extrusion. The ability to offer all combinations results in the efficient testing of the controllable and variable extrudate density. No other extruder is able to offer these combinations in a single piece of equipment.

Comparitive trials with similar equipment show that an average of 69% usable yield is obtained compared to 96% with the Arcon VDE at a higher density configuration.

 

 

    FEATURES

  • Radial and axial extrusion in a single bench-top unit
  • No cone or dome extruder required to increase capacity
  • Flexibile according to the requirements of the formulation
  • Extrusion hole diameters range from 0.2 - 2.0mm
  • Hole depths vary from 0.5mm - 6 mm deep on radial extrusion and 8mm on axial
    extrusion. (Not all combinations are possible in all configurations)
  • Ability to vary the density of the extrudate produced 

 

Mini Screw Extruder

 

Mini Screw Extruder

Should you require very small scale extrusion for costly or scarce material or research and development purposes, the Mini Screw Extruder might be a suitable option. Previously only available as part of the "Mini Kit", the Mini Screw Extruder is now available as a fully GMP compliant stand-alone machine for the production of small clinical batches, even as little as 5 grams!

The Mini Screw Extruder provides an efficient and cost-effective way of evaluating the effect of different extrusion dies on the properties of the final product. Experiments have shown that when using batch sizes of 10g it is possible to achieve recovery of 8 g of extrudate. The Mini Screw Extruder can be connected to the DatastorTM which provides a permanent record of power, rotation speed and product temperature by accurately measuring these every 5 seconds.

 

Floor Standing Screen (Basket) Extruder 35

 

Floor Screen Extruder Our "Low Pressure" Extruder 35 is suitable for both pilot plant and full-scale production and capable of extrusion up to 180 kg/hour.

 

 

    FEATURES

  • Working capacity suitable for the Spheroniser 380 or Spheroniser 500
  • Very small quantities (about 0.5kg) can be extruded during development work
  • Easy to dismantle and clean
  • Full IQ/OQ documentation packages available
  • Automatic loading option if required
  • Changeable screens with different hole diameters allowing a variety of extrudate
    diameters

 

 

Floor Standing Scale Extruder 40

 

Gear Extruder 40 The image alongside shows a floor standing scale extruder capable of extrusion of up to 40 kg/hour. Designed for full-scale production, the scale extruder is also suitable for pilot-scale work and is particularly suited for producing high quality, dense extrudate. The scale extruder produces this denser extrudate without causing the temperature of the product to rise during the process.

 

 

    FEATURES

  • Working capacity suitable for the Spheronizer 380 or Spheronizer 500
  • Gear sets can be supplied with diameter holes of 0.8 - 2 mm, depending on requirements
  • Output can be modified by altering rotational speed of gears

 

Should you require a larger gear extruder, the Production Gear Extruder 100 is capable of extrusion rates of 100 kg/hour. These larger extruders can be designed according to your specific needs or incorporated into other equipment as required.


 

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