Researchers at the RCPE (Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering) in Graz, Austria, are using the FT4 Powder Rheometer from Freeman Technology to model powder behaviours.
The RCPE is an internationally operating European research institute in the area of pharmaceutical process and product development, and a focal point for rational and science-based development of novel pharmaceutical drug products, as well as their manufacturing processes.
The FT4 is being used in a number of areas, one of which is the development of models that support the optimisation of powder blending, a critically important industrial operation.
According to Freeman Technology, a notable success has been achieved with models that allow the successful correlation of powder blend characteristics with the properties of the constituents.
A researcher at the RCPE claimed that the FT4 delivered high reproducibility, greater than that achievable with alternative techniques and instruments, to provide the cleanest possible data sets for modelling.
Using a Design of Experiments (DoE) approach and multivariate data analysis (MVDA), the research team has developed reliable models for the prediction of a number of different blend properties.
NIR spectroscopy has been used to monitor the efficiency of blending in further trials conducted to link off-line tests on constituents and well-defined powder blends with the actual industrial powder blending process.
The FT4 Powder Rheometer is designed to deliver precise and highly reproducible dynamic, shear and bulk powder measurement.
Automated well-defined measurement protocols include a conditioning step, prior to analysis, to provide the most stable of baselines for measurement.
