Volumetric powder filling technology could streamline your process and increase productivity – that’s according to Marta Romaniuk and Richard Lewis, from Biopharma Group and John Rakucewicz from Kinematics & Controls Corporation.
Powders
Increasingly, industry appears to be driven by a manufacturer’s demand for ‘stream-lined’ processing, whilst maintaining the level of product integrity expected by their customers – whether this be taste, consistency, texture, or API activity.
The field of accurate powder filling is a good example, where the propensity for companies to move away from more time consuming, laborious, and in some instances, inefficient procedures has become far more pronounced. In this environment, every effort is made to save material, eliminate waste, and increase operational efficiency, whilst satisfying the regulatory and EH&S requirements. As a result, a vast amount of technology, and various methods have been applied in an attempt to accurately measure and dose specific volumes of powdered material.
However, due to the slow and arguably, inaccurate nature of many traditional techniques such as hand filling, operators have sought new ways to maximise efficiency, minimise loss of product efficacy, and, ultimately, protect their sustainability and position in the market place, economically. For instance, while the net weighing fillers prove to be accurate, they are particularly slow in operation. The time taken to achieve an ‘acceptable’ volume of target material, with these ‘simpler’ dose methodologies of manual hand filling/weighing techniques appear to have become out-dated in the contemporary fiscal and time dependent climate, with preference towards the implementation of modernised technology.
This is undoubtedly due to the fact that filling by hand means an operator must literally take up product with a spoon, spatula, or similar, before weighing to ascertain how near, or more typically, how far away, they are from the target volume. Of course, the length of time per dose can obviously be considerable, and creates a high probability of variance from dose to dose.
Henceforth, the popularity of using powder filling instruments to assist has expanded across many markets, from pharmaceutical to diagnostic reagents, cosmetics to powdered metals and food.
Another aspect to consider is the evolution of product understanding, to, again, satisfy regulatory and customer demands. For example, quality by design (QbD) is a model which has become quite pervasive in manufacturing environments, driving the end user to consider and identify individual but inherent material characteristics, prior to application of suitable filling technology.
This nature of understanding may be accompanied by product reports to convey the reason a particular product is dispensed in a particular way e.g. corroborative data that can then be reviewed by auditing regulatory bodies. A level of enhanced documentation that will definitely serve to benefit both the product manufacturer, and their customer. For these reasons, in-depth review of specific sample properties, process requirements and techniques are now regularly requested and carried out to gain that required knowledge. The goal of this assessment is to ensure consistent and accurate extraction of the required dose at a satisfactory processing speed and end-product quality, accompanied by a documentation trial. Users therefore need a partner willing to provide such a level of detail.
Where traditional auger fillers may have their place in large doses filling applications of dry powdered or granular products, they lack the level of precision required for the delivery of small incremental doses with close-tolerance, repeat accuracy.
At the other end of the spectrum, the volumetric powder filling approach has a proven record in the delivery of highly accurate, reproducible, and swift dosage. Here, material is drawn-up in to an orifice of known dimensions using an integrated vacuum system. The optimal filling system and procedure is then determined by the application for which they are used, and on the properties of the process material, such as:
- Bulk density
- Free flowing or non-free flowing
- Coarseness, concentration gradients and uniformity of powder
- Container type
The measuring tool selection has to consider both your dosage, plus the size and shape of primary containers, which might, in turn, affect the operator’s ability to dose their desired volume per minute, hour, or the working day.
In addition, the variation in size of different powder particles, from several microns to more granular volumes, must be taken in to account during the selection of not just the base machine and volumetric dosing barrel, but the filter type too, which may also improve the dosing capacity.
In some cases, the presence of larger filter pores i.e. 40um as opposed to 20um, may improve the airflow through the dosing gun and aid in the products compaction, thus reducing potential product waste by simultaneous dose and filter purge. During the dosing process, the residue powder inside the dosing chamber and on top of the filter will be expelled accurately by applying a user defined pressure.
At the Kinematics & Controls Corporation, the first step is a comprehensive sample test protocol, designed with six-sigma levels of quality in mind, recommended to identify the key powder and container characteristics. The outcome should provide a clear understanding of the following:
- The level of vacuum required to pick up and adequately pack material, without compromising its structure
- The depth of the product in the given dosing ‘gun’ to calculate the volumetric measurements
- The level of tolerance expected when applying these aspects to the dose
- A full written report can then be issued, for customer interpretation
Please note, it is prudent we highlight that when these details are identified they only need to be applied once, allowing the operator to conduct a working shift of accurate and repeatable dosing for that individual sample.
These simple, accurate, high-speed and low cost Kinematics powder fillers have a rugged construction modular design where the entry level machine 4400/VC console forms part of both the Model 4400/TX & the Model 5500/TX. All systems are capable of running for long periods of time, with low maintenance while accurately measuring and dispensing the powdered material in to desired containers.
Various Kinematics systems are available to simplify operation and increase productivity, as described below, and all are supplied complete with extensive build diagrams, wiring configurations, and FDA approved parts, where required.
By identifying a suitable filling solution for target powdered material at the outset, companies can minimise potential for operational problems over time, significantly reducing manufacturing expenditure, while building the client confidence in scale up capacity.