Blender has a Tough Pill to Swallow

The manufacturing of drugs, vitamins, minerals, and other pharmaceutical products entails the use of multiple processes that have the potential to produce harmful dust. Common processes include mixing, blending, tableting, coating, weighing, and the packing of dry, finished products. Dust generated from these processes can not only cause harm to employees, but can also decrease product quality.

One of the most basic, and critical, operations in the pharmaceutical industry is blending. The blending process, also referred to as mixing, combines the active ingredients of a drug with fillers and additives to produce a final product. The quality of the final product is derived by the quality of the mixture. Improper mixing may result in a non-homogeneous product that lacks consistency in color, texture, flavor, and even reactivity.

A pharmaceutical company had multiple processes, including mixing and weighing stations, alongside a dissolving vessel. They were looking for a dust collection unit that would be able to handle loadings from multiple processes, while minimizing the water treatment footprint. Additionally, the company wanted to improve product quality, minimize employee health hazards, and reduce housekeeping.

Challenge

The the inlet loading from multiple mixing and weighing stations, as well as the fumes from the extracting solution, provided its own unique challenges. The customer needed a wet scrubber that wouldn’t require high water treatment
usage.

Solution

AAF provided a RotoClone® N with a hopper bottom, motorized drain valve, and water level control. This unit was chosen because of its low water usage and ability to handle the inlet loading from multiple mixing and weighing stations. The RotoClone® N mitigated the water treatment footprint of the collector, while the drain kept the equipment operational.

Benefits

The RotoClone® N’s “hands off” setup reduced the constant clean out previously required by their old system. The motorized drain and water level control allowed management and equipment maintenance employees the ability to focus less on their dust collection equipment and more on their processes. The customer noted improved mixing efficiency, which led to shorter batch cycle times and operational costs.