SCALING-UP OF WET GRANULATION - A STATISTICAL METHODOLOGY

Wet granulation is studied in different granulators: conventional planetary mixers (Collette(R) and Ours(R)), high speed granulators (Moritz(R) TS10 and TS50) and Lodige(R) mixer. Apart from the type and size of apparatus, the quantity of granulating liquid and the kneading time vary according to experimental designs. A great number of variables are measured before, during and after compression of the produced granules. Results are collected and treated using the Response Surface Methodology. Comparison of the obtained response surfaces and superimposing the contourlines lead to a best knowledge of the scaling-up operation. A Multifactorial Analysis, more global but complement of the previous method, is performed in order to reveal the main differences as well as common properties between the different granulators, allowing so a general interpretation of their characteristics.