Test granulation
PowderPro can conduct test granulation of your specific material, enabling you to evaluate the output before considering a purchase of our freeze granulation equipment.
- Up to one litre suspension can be processed at prime cost
- Suspension composition and processing upon agreement with the costumer
- Completion of testing and delivery of granules within 2-3 weeks
- At equipment purchase, cost reduction according to the test granulation cost is given
Start-up at site
At purchase of freeze granulation equipment, we offer a start-up service that provides time saving and fast up-running of the equipment via valuable hands-on learnings related to the freeze granulation and freeze drying as well as other aspects regarding pre and post processing. Depending on the location/situation the training of costumer personnel can be conducted at costumer site or alternatively at PowderPro lab.
Key Benefits
- Homogeneous granules (10 to 700 μm) with no migration
- Redispersible nanopowders and enzymes
- No contamination
- High yield and easy to clean
- Evaluate benefits before investing
- Min. volume is normally 50 ml and max. 1000 ml in a test
- Superior for retaining homogeneity in mixed material powders.
How it works
In a test-granulation we can run maximum 1 liter suspension. If you think that the suspension survive the transport without being affected you can just send it to our delivery address. An alternative, if not too complicated, is that we prepare the solution in our lab. We prefer to have as high concentration as possible to obtain high granule density, so that the solution results in a fluid form and shear thickening does not occur (dilatant). Do you have any specific preferences regarding the granule size? Please let us know. It will always be a distribution, but we can adapt the spraying parameters to get it finer or coarser. Do you have any other additives in the solution?
Basically we prefer as low water content as possible as this means a higher granule density and less water to be removed in the freeze drying step. Normally, a high solid content is provided by a proper de-agglomeration and stabilization, but it can be limited by finer particle size and corresponding higher specific surface area. High viscosity can be handled just by dilatancy (shear thickening) not appears. From this point of view, the second slurry has a very low powder content, so if the powder is the same as in slurry 1, stabilisation at high pH appears poor. High solids will promote the dry granule strength but as freeze granulation gives week bonding between particles, a binder is normally required to handle the granules without fall apart.
There is no specific limit of the viscosity, just the continuous sheer-thinning of the suspension and no dilatancy. If you prepare suspension it is better to do it with as high solid loading as possible, we can always dilute if necessary. Smaller particles is better, but we can handle particles up to 200-300 microns. If settling will be a serious problem we can add a thickener. Further we need to secure that we have a certain binding capacity within the granules after drying. If not we need to add an additional binder.
At first trial with new composition you do not always get optimum granules, so there is always room for improvement and optimisation. The main costs are (as always) the labour costs.
PowderPro help you choose the most suitable equipment, assessing each project on its individual needs and tailor the process and the Freeze Granulator to match your specific requirements.
Interested in a test granulation?
For a Freeze Granulation test, please fill in the form below, describing your system, and we will send you a quotation as well as additional information. Minimal suspension volume is normally 50 ml and maximum 1000 ml in a test. All aspects related to suspension preparation/composition and processing parameters for the test will be defined together with the costumer. Upon request, the costumer can join the test when conducted in our lab.