Continuous production of pharmaceutical granulation

A single pass continuous processing system for producing pharmaceutical granulation, comprising:

• (a) powder and liquid feeders to feed at least one pharmaceutically active ingredient and additives;
• (b) a twin screw wet granulator-chopper device for granulating the active ingredient and additives received from the powder and liquid feeders into a wet granular product said twin screw wet granulator-chopper including a housing surrounding said device, said housing including a non-extruding opening at the outlet thereof;
• (c) conveying, loading, and leveling means for conveying the wet granulation from the outlet of said twin screw wet granulator-chopper, loading the wet granulation on a dryer belt, and leveling the wet granulation to a desired height;
• (d) a drying apparatus for receiving the wet granulation from the dryer belt and drying the wet granulation using dielectric energy;
• (e) conveying means for transporting the dried granulation from the drying apparatus for size reduction;
• (f) a mill for reducing the dried granulation to particles of a desired size;
• and
• (g) control means for controlling process variables of at least one of the powder and liquid feeders, the twin screw wet granulator-chopper, the conveying, loading, and leveling means, the drying apparatus, the conveying means, and the mill to optimize production of pharmaceutical granulation.