Discharge Aids Overcome Bridging Issues at Big Pharma Company

A large multi-national pharmaceutical company in the North East of England asked Mucon to ascertain whether intermittent bridging/rat-holing issues within its stainless steel cones could be resolved using the Mucon Promoflow range of discharge aids.

This pharmaceutical organisation has several small asymmetrical and symmetrical stainless steel cones, which on occasion experience intermittent bridging issues when processing powders. To resolve this issue, production staff has been known to bang the sides of the cones in an attempt to keep the flow of powders moving. Unfortunately, banging the cones only served to damage them and to further consolidate material inside them, therefore making it even more difficult for the powders to flow. Banging on the cones not only resulted in lost productivity but also tied up engineering resources that could have been better utilised elsewhere in the plant.

Mucon staff visited the manufacturing site and measured the cones and also took note of the material being handled, such as bulk density, particle size, etc.

The pharmaceutical organisation was also keen to mention that the stainless steel cones were steam cleaned with purified water and then either oven or vacuum dried. Mucon engineers were informed that as the cones were located in a clean environment that any pneumatically operated device must not use a lubricated air supply, so that hygiene levels could be maintained.

The customer’s engineers also specified that they did not want a discharge aid with any internal fixings to ensure that nothing could work loose over time and damage other equipment in the manufacturing process such as a tablet press.

Requirements

The customer’s demands were very specific in that any equipment chosen must satisfy the following criteria:

• cleaning regime — steam cleaning of the cones using purified water

• no material hang up

• easy to clean and maintain

• discharge aid to function using only a non-lubricated air supply

• no fixings on the inside of the vessel

• manual control mechanism was requested for operators to easily utilise.

Solution

Once the customer’s needs were identified and confirmed, Process Components Ltd (manufacturer of the Mucon product range) set about designing a system that would adhere to these.

Rib cage screens in 316L mirror polished stainless steel were decided on to meet with the customer’s cleaning requirements and minimise product hang up.

Control of the discharge aid was important. A variety of options were on offer, but the end-user preferred a manual toggle switch instead of automatic actuation.

Fixing and fastening of the Mini-Promoflow was made on the outside of the cone to ensure that nothing could work itself loose and provide easy access for cleaning and maintenance if required.

Result

The end-user decided to send one of the stainless steel cones to Process Components to have the Mini-Promoflow installed and then sent back, so that an initial trial could be undertaken to assess how effective the equipment was. They were very methodical and cautious in their testing of the Mini-Promoflow. Consequently, after several months of testing the Mucon Mini-Promoflow, the end-user was delighted with their findings and the customer decided to order several more discharge aids to solve bridging issues elsewhere in the plant.

Mucon, +44 1625 412000, sales@mucon.com, www.mucon.com.