The facility, developed and designed in collaboration with Niro , allows Hovione to produce dry solids in either powder, granulate or agglomerate form from liquid feedstocks such as solutions, emulsions and pumpable suspensions.
Hovione says that the technology enables continuous production, at low cost and with a high degree of precision over particle design; it allows control of particle size over a wide range of sizes (< 5 to 400 microns), as well as control over bulk density and the degree of crystallinity. When operating as a fluidised spray dryer, the unit produces free-flowing dustless materials, which are uniform and can be used directly in tableting.
The unit has been installed at the company's active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing plant in Portugal, operating under stringent current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) conditions as a conventional spray dryer for very fine particles (< 5 - 10 microns) and as a fluidised spray dryer for agglomerated, free-flowing dustless materials (100 - 400 microns).
It is capable of evaporating 35 to 90 Kg of water per hour and is equipped with two atomiser systems (a pressure nozzle and co-current two-fluid nozzle). The spray dryer is fit to deliver injectable grade APIs and is configured to be cleaned-in-place, discharging into a classified clean-room.
Hovione will be presenting its new technology and facility at BioFine in Berlin, being held 5-6 May.
