Bosch Launches New Granulation Unit

The new granulation unit GranuLean by Bosch combines the process steps of mixing, granulating, and drying for the manufacturing of pharmaceutical granules. The unit is available in three different batch sizes. With its 6 meters length and 3.4 meters height, the new development that is being exhibited at ACHEMA saves valuable production room.

“The name GranuLean stands for a lean and compact machine, which can be easily integrated into production rooms and focuses on the basic requirements of pharmaceutical producers,” Fritz-Martin Scholz, product manager at Bosch, commented in a press statement. “By concentrating on the essential basic functions within fixed dimensions, we have developed an especially efficient granulation solution.”

The easy alignment of machine components means that the granulation unit can be installed quickly and easily. All process and cleaning steps can be controlled via recipes. GranuLean comes with a 21-inch touchscreen operator interface that is user friendly.

The process for manufacturing pharmaceutical granules begins by pneumatically filling the high-shear mixer. The mixing device Gentlewing, which is driven from below, mixes and granulates the active ingredients and excipients. The high-shear mixer is emptied via the equally newly developed, integrated wet mill.

Communication between mill and Gentlewing ensures that only as much product is emptied as the mill is able to process, which prevents the mill from clogging. A pneumatic transfer pipe subsequently transfers the wet product to the GranuLean fluid bed module, where it is dried through the inflow of the proven Diskjet distribution plate. The function of process filters is crucial to obtain high yields: for this reason, Bosch has developed a new process filter, where the elements are serially cleaned with compressed air pulses. At the end of the drying process, the product is emptied by a dry mill.

Apart from the high-shear mixer, granulation can also take place in the fluid bed by using a tangential or top spray process. GranuLean is available for a containment level of up to Operational Exposure Band 3. The machine remains closed during operation, while inflatable seals on the product containers provide for an optimum draughtproofing.

Source: Bosch, Hall 3.1, Stand C71