Today’s Countless tablets and pills are being produced worldwide. The following parameters have to be observed above all the compression force of the tablet punch is crucial, lower compression forces above a required minimum value allow higher production speeds and reduce the wear of the punches thus saving costs for maintenance and repair. If talk about types of Tablets Manufacturing Process only three types are used to make granules.
During compression the tablet can stick to the punches and walls of the die this can be reduced to a certain degree by using lubricants for example; after compression, the final tablets are characterized by their friability and hardness. friability describes the amount of loss of surface material from the compressed tablet during handling. so low friability is needed to keep the tablet weight constant, especially for coating, during packaging, coating, or transport. the tablets need sufficient hardness to prevent breaking all of this has to be checked during the final.
Three most common Tablets manufacturing processes
- Direct compression
- Wet granulation
- Roller compaction also called dry granulation
Direct Compression
Direct compression is the easiest and most cost-efficient process API and functional excipients such as filler binder or lubricant are mixed in screw mixer pre-mixed powder is then compressed directly with a tablet press.
The advantages of direct compression costs are low production is fast and efficient and it works with water and heat-sensitive APIs. however, it may be difficult for low dosage due to weak content uniformity, also the pre-mixed powders need good flowability to ensure a perfect fill of the cavities. Good flow behavior can speed up the process by preventing arching, bridging, or ratholes during compression.
The flow properties are measured by the angle of repose. a small angle indicates good flowability if the pre-mixed powder has insufficient flow properties indicated by a high angle of repose. granulation produces larger and rougher particles or granules this increases the flow properties by decreasing the particle surface and reducing the amount of dust granulation can be done with a wet or dry manufacturing process.
Wet Granulation
In wet Granulation suitable granulating fluid like water, binder solution, or organic solvent is added to the pre-mixed powder. then granulated with a low or high shear mixing tool to create a wet mass. Afterward, the wet granules are milled dried in an FBD (Fluid bed dryer) and sifted to the final particle size. functional exhibits such as lubricants or disintegrates are only added now by blending not before as indirect compression after this step the product is ready for compression.
Pros of wet granulation ensure good distribution of the API due to good content uniformity and are suitable for many excipients
Cons it is not suitable for water or heat-sensitive API’s and is very costly due to the many processes steps
Rollar Compaction or Dry Granulation
Roller compaction is also a Tablets Manufacturing process, sometimes known as dry granulation to increases flowability.
However, it has several unique features that make it ideal for roller compaction. One option is to only mix the excipient and not the API.
This premix can then be compressed with slugs or by roller compaction, after that it is ground to granules without the use of fluid since the API only needs to be added now. this process is perfectly suitable for sensitive API’s and Because of the consistency of the material, the API is distributed well; however, the additional process steps in roller compaction make it quite costly. As said all these three Tablets Manufacturing Process leads to the compress to produced powders or granules into tablets.
Conclustion
All three method is used in the Tablets Manufacturing process, all methods are reliable but some has an advantage and at the same time, they may be cases of disadvantage.
