Bulk freeze drying is an established method of food preservation that Biopharma Group freeze drying equipment makes equally appropriate for both research and development in the pharmaceutical industries.
Bulk freeze drying is a commonly used method of preservation in the food industry. Milk, coffee and fruit are all familiar products that can be treated in this manner, helping preserve colour, taste and nutritional value, while increasing shelf life.
Bulk freeze drying also has many applications in the pharmaceutical industry for drying a variety of materials, including bacterial samples, small molecules and manufacturing process intermediates. The Biopharma Group has been a leaders in the field of freeze drying equipment and technologies for over 25 years and has offered an independent R&D and lab services consultancy service since 1997.
As experts, Biopharma Group fully understands the complexities inherent in scaling up from vial based freeze drying to a bulk drying technique, especially the importance of knowing the equipment’s maximum trapping rate and condenser capacity. This needs to be commensurate with the sublimation rate of the bulk solution batch in order to prevent a condenser overload, which might then exceed drying chamber vacuum safety limits and cause a bulk drying cycle to fail.
Biopharma knows the importance of sample depth, ensuring consistent fill depths per choice of bulk container across the shelves and a total batch size that meets the dryer’s condenser capacity. Cycle recipes are also critical and should be optimised after establishing formulation characteristics, bearing in mind factors such as the handling times when loading and unloading shelves.
The Biopharma Group is also fully aware of the further processing requirements of bulk dried products, such as storage in intermediate containers and the successful manipulation of the product into smaller volumes. Biopharma Group fully acknowledges and supports that bulk/large volume freeze drying offers a less labour and cost intensive process and as such is therefore a valuable, viable and attractive option for the pharmaceutical industry.
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