Melt pelletization in a high shear mixer .7. Effects of product temperature

Lactose monohydrate, anhydrous lactose and anhydrous dicalcium phosphate were melt pelletized in an 8-1 high shear mixer using polyethylene glycol (PEG) 3000 or 6000 as meltable binder. The temperature of the heating jacket was varied at two levels giving rise to different product temperatures. The agglomerate growth was affected by the product temperature because a higher temperature caused a lower binder viscosity, a thermal expansion of the binder liquid and more evaporation of water of crystallization. The possibility of controlling the process and the quality of the resulting pellets were found to depend on the physical properties of the materials.