Michael A. Henson Group

Filtering and Drying Processes in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Filtration and drying are critical downstream processes in pharmaceutical manufacturing. These liquid-solid separations are subject to stringent constraints because the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) must not be affected by processing. Because pharmaceutical manufacturing is typically accomplished through batch operation, overall process productivity is strongly affected by the batch times of the individual unit operations. For example, in drying processes the API can degrade if the drying temperature is too high while long batch times can result if the temperature is too low. Drying often represents a manufacturing bottleneck because the moisture content of the wet cake is difficult to measure in real time. As a result, the drying process may be run far longer than necessary to ensure that the moisture content drops to an acceptable level. Similar challenges are encountered in filtration processes, where the most favorable operating strategy is difficult to determine with commonly available measurements.

The goal of this project is to analyze experiments with state-of-the-art analytical techniques and develop process models that allow filtration and drying performance to be predicted and optimized. Our current work involves the use of crystal size distribution measurements as an input to a dynamic filtration model and on-line mass spectroscopy to measure moisture content for development of a vacuum oven drying model.

Funding: Sunovion

Student: Aditya Gopi Dodda (2nd year Ph.D. student)

Collaborator:Kostas Saranteas (Sunovion)