Turning Powders, Dusts and Sludges Into Easy-To-Handle Granules
by David Phillips, Heyl & Patterson, USA
Agglomeration and granulation are two common terms used in process industries, and they are actually synonyms. Granulation is the process of forming a powder, dust or sludge substance into multiparticle entities, and the resulting granules can vary in size from either 0.2 to 4 mm depending on their specific use. Agglomeration is also known as particle size enlargement, and is a general wide-spectrum term for granulation. These technologies are excellent tools to modify mass product properties for further and easier processing.
Granules
Agglomeration of powders is often used to improve specific characteristics of a product material, such as wettability, flowability, bulk density and the overall appearance and performance of the product. Some powders are difficult to compact even if a readily compactable adhesive is included in the mix. On the other hand, some other granules of the same type readily compact. This is due to the distribution of the added adhesive within the granule.
For example, imagine if a person were to attempt to make tablets from both powdered sugar and granulated sugar. Powdered sugar would be much more difficult to compress into a viable tablet as opposed to granulated sugar, due to the small size of the powdered sugar particles. Such small particles have poor compression values as well as poor flow properties, and would need to be compressed very slowly for a long period of time to produce a viable tablet that would hold its shape. It is for this reason that agglomeration and granulation machinesprocessors.aspx exist, to turn powders and other materials into a granulated form, thus giving them better compression characteristics.
• Wet Granulation - In this process, granules are formed by the addition of a granulation liquid into the product, which is under the influence of an agitator or air. In the case of a high sheer model granulator, the agitation mechanism is screws, and a fluid bed granulator utilizes air. The agitation in combination with the wetting of the components results in the aggregation of the primary substance to produce soft, wet granules. The granulation liquid contains a solvent with must be volatile so it can be removed by drying without leaving anything behind. Typical liquids for this purpose include ethanol, water and isopropanol. Water mixed into the powder can form bonds strong enough to lock granules together temporarily, but once the water dries, improperly bound granules may fall apart. Because of this, binders must be added so the granules keep their shape after the water or other fluid has dried. One of the most commonly used binders is Povidone, or polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)Polyvinylpyrrolidone. It is favored in the pharmaceutical industry for easily forming granule bonds without being toxic.
• Dry Granulation - This technique is similar to wet granulation, only without the use of a fluid. This option is used for products which may be sensitive to moisture and heat. In this process, the primary powder substance is aggregated under high pressure. Sweying granulators or high shear mixer-granulators can be used for dry granulation. This method can result in two different product outcomes. Either a large tablet, or slug, is produced, or the powder is squeezed between two counter-rotating rollers to produce a continuous sheet of material.
When the resulting pellets or granules are dry, they can either be packaged or sent to be compacted into pills or disks, depending on their final use. Aside from improving compactability, another reason for the granulation process is to keep different components in a mix from separating.
Heyl & Patterson Inc.heyl p... inc 29440.htm understands the need for such exacting equipment. The machines designed by the company's Renneburg Divisionsearch?q=renneburg are considered to be some of the most well-built and reliable, and are often referred to as "workhorses" of the bulk solids processing industry. Whether the customer's needs are pharmaceutical, chemical or other fields, Heyl & Pattersonsearch?client=safari&rls=de de&q=Heyl+%26+Patterson+site:bulk online.com&ie=UTF 8&oe=UTF 8's agglomeration equipment is built to last and can handle powders, dusts, sludge, and other bulk solids with ease.
Heyl & Patterson Agglomerators
Heyl & Pattersonsearch?q=heyl+%26+Patterson designs both rotary and fluid bed agglomerator/granulators to process powder and bulk hard-to-handle products into spherical pellets. Rotary units utilize the rotational element of a horizontal drum mounted at a slight incline to create agglomerates. Custom designed rotary drums can provide shorter or longer retention times, reaction processes and controlled particle size through rotation speed and inclination. Fluid bed units typically combine drying with particle agglomeration or granulation by spraying the wet feed material onto a bed of seed material. The fluidizing action then provides the means for efficient and thorough processing.
Heyl & Patterson: Turning Powders, Dusts and Sludges into Easy-To-Handle Granules
Turning Powders, Dusts and Sludges Into Easy-To-Handle Granules
by David Phillips, Heyl & Patterson, USA
Agglomeration and granulation are two common terms used in process industries, and they are actually synonyms. Granulation is the process of forming a powder, dust or sludge substance into multiparticle entities, and the resulting granules can vary in size from either 0.2 to 4 mm depending on their specific use. Agglomeration is also known as particle size enlargement, and is a general wide-spectrum term for granulation. These technologies are excellent tools to modify mass product properties for further and easier processing.
Granules
Agglomeration of powders is often used to improve specific characteristics of a product material, such as wettability, flowability, bulk density and the overall appearance and performance of the product. Some powders are difficult to compact even if a readily compactable adhesive is included in the mix. On the other hand, some other granules of the same type readily compact. This is due to the distribution of the added adhesive within the granule.
For example, imagine if a person were to attempt to make tablets from both powdered sugar and granulated sugar. Powdered sugar would be much more difficult to compress into a viable tablet as opposed to granulated sugar, due to the small size of the powdered sugar particles. Such small particles have poor compression values as well as poor flow properties, and would need to be compressed very slowly for a long period of time to produce a viable tablet that would hold its shape. It is for this reason that agglomeration and granulation machinesprocessors.aspx exist, to turn powders and other materials into a granulated form, thus giving them better compression characteristics.
In the industry, there are two main types of granulation processesGranulation%28process%29:
• Wet Granulation - In this process, granules are formed by the addition of a granulation liquid into the product, which is under the influence of an agitator or air. In the case of a high sheer model granulator, the agitation mechanism is screws, and a fluid bed granulator utilizes air. The agitation in combination with the wetting of the components results in the aggregation of the primary substance to produce soft, wet granules. The granulation liquid contains a solvent with must be volatile so it can be removed by drying without leaving anything behind. Typical liquids for this purpose include ethanol, water and isopropanol. Water mixed into the powder can form bonds strong enough to lock granules together temporarily, but once the water dries, improperly bound granules may fall apart. Because of this, binders must be added so the granules keep their shape after the water or other fluid has dried. One of the most commonly used binders is Povidone, or polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)Polyvinylpyrrolidone. It is favored in the pharmaceutical industry for easily forming granule bonds without being toxic.
• Dry Granulation - This technique is similar to wet granulation, only without the use of a fluid. This option is used for products which may be sensitive to moisture and heat. In this process, the primary powder substance is aggregated under high pressure. Sweying granulators or high shear mixer-granulators can be used for dry granulation. This method can result in two different product outcomes. Either a large tablet, or slug, is produced, or the powder is squeezed between two counter-rotating rollers to produce a continuous sheet of material.
When the resulting pellets or granules are dry, they can either be packaged or sent to be compacted into pills or disks, depending on their final use. Aside from improving compactability, another reason for the granulation process is to keep different components in a mix from separating.
Heyl & Patterson Inc.heyl p... inc 29440.htm understands the need for such exacting equipment. The machines designed by the company's Renneburg Divisionsearch?q=renneburg are considered to be some of the most well-built and reliable, and are often referred to as "workhorses" of the bulk solids processing industry. Whether the customer's needs are pharmaceutical, chemical or other fields, Heyl & Pattersonsearch?client=safari&rls=de de&q=Heyl+%26+Patterson+site:bulk online.com&ie=UTF 8&oe=UTF 8's agglomeration equipment is built to last and can handle powders, dusts, sludge, and other bulk solids with ease.
Heyl & Patterson Agglomerators
Heyl & Pattersonsearch?q=heyl+%26+Patterson designs both rotary and fluid bed agglomerator/granulators to process powder and bulk hard-to-handle products into spherical pellets. Rotary units utilize the rotational element of a horizontal drum mounted at a slight incline to create agglomerates. Custom designed rotary drums can provide shorter or longer retention times, reaction processes and controlled particle size through rotation speed and inclination. Fluid bed units typically combine drying with particle agglomeration or granulation by spraying the wet feed material onto a bed of seed material. The fluidizing action then provides the means for efficient and thorough processing.
For more information about Heyl & Pattersonsearch?q=Heyl+%26+Patterson+site:bulk online.com&hl=en&client=safari&rls=de de&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch Agglomerator/Granulators as well as other types of dryers for bulk materials, click heredryerscoolers.aspx.
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