Real-Time Monitoring of Gas–Solid Fluidized-Bed Granulation and Coating Process: Evolution of Particle Size, Fluidization Regime Transitions, and Psychometric Parameters

Abstract

Moisture content and particle size are critical parameters in fluidized-bed granulation and coating. In this study, microcrystalline cellulose was granulated and coated. The particle size was monitored in real time by a Parsum IPP70 probe. The fluidization regime was assessed by Gaussian spectral analysis. The bed temperature and gas humidity profile were monitored to evaluate the drying efficiency. The defluidization phase was detected in the early stages with frequencies below 6.0 Hz. The Parsum probe showed the growth of the particles due to agglomeration. The psychometric parameters indicated the lower potential energy for drying. Therefore, monitoring in real time is important to detect failures.

Keywords:

• Coating
• Granulation
• Parsum
• Particle size monitoring
• Psychometric parameters
• Spectral analysis

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors thank the Malvern Instruments (Malvern Applications Laboratory) company for the support provided by the automatic image analysis using Morphology 3G(S) and the laser diffraction analysis using Mastersizer 3000.