Determination of Sphericity of Pellets Prepared by Extrusion/Spheronization and the Impact of Some Process Parameters

Abstract

A method for the quantitative assessment of particle shape has been evaluated and used to study the influence of some process parameters on the sphericity of particles produced by extrusion/spheronization

The measuring technique is based on the transfer of a microscopic picture of particles to a video screen. From the digitized image, the length/width ratio for a large number of particles is calculated by a computer

Processing conditions, such as added amount of liquid and spheronization speed/time, have a pronounced impact on particle sphericity

The results obtained and the convenience of the method demonstrate that the measuring technique is valuable in following changes of particle shape in relation to processing conditions