As one of the oldest, well-established formulation processes, granulation has become a reliable technique for many pharmaceutical manufacturers to ensure drug blend uniformity, increase powder flow, and improve compactibility of formulations. Granulation helps increase particle size distribution and bulk density while reducing the amount of fine powder.  The resultant granules can be compressed into tablets or filled in capsules or even a sachet for a convenient, on-the-go option.
 

Numerous Techniques to Create Robust Formulations

To prevent the segregation of formulation components during downstream processing, manufacturers can choose from a variety of granulation methods – high shear, low shear, fluid bed and dry granulation -- can all be used to achieve a similar product.

Wet granulation:  In wet granulation, the role of the binder is very critical to the development of structure and performance of the granulation. The advantages of Avicel® MCC in wet granulation include:

1. Rapid and even wetting
2. Control of wet mass consistency without over wetting
3. Reduced screen blocking
4. Uniform and rapid drying
5. Robust granulation end point and easy scale up

METHOCEL™ LV grades can also be used as wetting agents and binders to improve granulation properties.

Fluid bed granulation: This process creates granules which are more porous and have higher surface area and lower bulk density, which is particularly advantageous for low solubility drugs. Avicel® facilitates in fluidization of the powder bed and provides rapid and even water uptake, and uniform drying resulting in uniform granules. Addition of METHOCEL™ LV grades can help improve binding and granule strength.

Dry granulation: Dry granulation can be achieved with a roller compaction technique.   In this technique, formulation components are compressed between a set of rollers to form ribbons which can then be milled to achieve the desired granule size.  Binders with superior compression properties like Avicel® MCC are commonly utilized, as are METHOCEL™.  Recent innovation from Nutrition & Biosciences has led to the creation of Avicel® DG grade which is specifically designed to preserve re-compression properties in tablet formation after a dry granulation processing step.

Although granulation is a well-established process used in many commercial manufacturing processes, it remains a timely and expensive process step.  As companies look to reduce manufacturing costs, Nutrition & Biosciences has designed several new excipient grades that can be used to achieve the benefits of granulation without the added process time and associated costs. 

Whether you are a manufacturer looking to reduce costs or solve poor flowability and content uniformity with granulation techniques, Nutrition & Biosciences is here to help. With high quality ingredients, tailored solutions and rich expertise, we can help manufacturers navigate any granulation process to deliver effective pharmaceuticals to consumers. Learn more.

We want to help you be successful in whatever application you are considering, so please contact us if you need more assistance. Our experts are eager to tackle your challenges.