Method for filling containers with a powder
AssigneeNtc S.R.L.
InventorsLuciano MARCELLONI, Federico BERTOCCHI
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Abstract
The present invention regards a method for filling containers with a single-dose composition comprising or, alternatively, consisting of mannitol in powder form. Such process comprises the following steps: a) breaking up a coherent mass of powder mannitol, so as to obtain a broken-up mass from said coherent mass; c) filling a plurality of containers with the broken-up mass of step a), wherein a bulk density of the coherent mass is smaller than a bulk density of the broken-up mass.
Claims14
A method for filling containers with a composition that comprises or, alternatively, consists of mannitol in powder form;
- wherein said method comprises the following steps:
- a) breaking up a coherent mass of mannitol powder, so as to obtain a broken-up mass from said coherent mass;
- c) filling a plurality of containers with the broken-up mass of step a);
- wherein the step a) comprises a breaking up carried out with a centrifugal force, and wherein a bulk density of the coherent mass is smaller than the bulk density of the broken-up mass.
The method according to the preceding claim, wherein a bulk density of the coherent mass is smaller than a bulk density of the broken-up mass by a percentage comprised from 1% to 40%, preferably comprised from 1% to 30%, even more preferably comprised from 5% to 15%, with respect to the bulk density of the broken-up mass.
The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said centrifugal force is exerted through a centrifugal drum sieve.
The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein step a) comprises the following sub-steps:
- a.i) sieving the coherent mass of mannitol powder;
- and
- a.ii) packing the product of sub-step a.i).
The method according to the preceding claim, wherein—in sub-step a.ii)—the mannitol powder is forced through a mesh with a clear gap comprised from 2.0 to 5.0 millimetres, preferably comprised from 2.0 to 4.0 millimetres, more preferably comprised from 2.5 to 3.5 millimetres, even more preferably of 3.0 millimetres.
The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein, at the end of step c), the mannitol powder in the container has a bulk density comprised from 0.40 to 0.65 g/ml.
The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein, at the end of step c), the mannitol powder comprises an amount comprised from 90% to 100% by weight of powder particles with an average particle size comprised from 1 μm to 500 μm, preferably comprised from 1 μm to 400 μm, more preferably comprised from 1 μm to 300 μm.
The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the single-dose composition is devoid of excipients and/or pyrogenic substances.
The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the container (1) delimits a container compartment (4), wherein the container compartment (4) comprises a first volume fraction and a second volume fraction, and wherein—at the end of step c)—the first volume fraction is occupied by the single-dose composition, and the second volume fraction of said compartment is free from said composition, and preferably wherein the first volume fraction is about two-thirds of a total internal volume of the container compartment (4), the second volume fraction being about one-third of the total internal volume.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.