Roller compactor with steam
AssigneeFreund-Vector Corporation
InventorBrian K. Jensen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A steam or reactant system is provided for a roller compactor to provide improved compaction or functional characteristic of powdered materials, such as active pharmaceutical ingredients. The steam or reactants can be added through conduits terminating in nozzles adjacent the nip zone of the compaction rollers. The injection nozzles can be directed tangentially from the above the rollers or laterally from the sides of the rollers. In one embodiment, the moisture is in the form of steam. The resulting compacting sheet has improved compaction characteristics and reduced compression variability.
Claims18
A roller compactor machine for compressing powdered pharmaceuticals, the machine having a pair of adjacent rollers defining a nip zone between the rollers and a hopper with a feed screw for feeding the powdered pharmaceuticals to the rollers, the improvement comprising:
- a source of steam;
- and
- a first conduit having an inlet connected to the steam source and an outlet adjacent the nip zone to introduce steam to the powdered pharmaceuticals prior to compaction by the rollers.
A method of producing a compressed product from a powdered product using a roller compactor machine having a pair of adjacent rollers defining a nip zone between the rollers and a hopper with a feed screw for feeding the powdered pharmaceuticals to the rollers, the method comprising:
- feeding powdered material from the hopper to the rollers;
- and
- adding a reactant adjacent the nip zone to minimize compression variability in the compressed product.
A compacted API product, made by:
- supplying powdered API to a hopper;
- discharging the powdered API from the hopper to a nip zone above a pair of compaction rollers;
- introducing steam adjacent the nip zone to the powdered API to produce modified API;
- and
- passing the modified API between the compactor rollers so as to compact the modified API into the compacted API product.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.