Powder dispersion and/or dissolution is a key unit operation in many drug formulations across the spectrum of delivery modes from lotion to tablet. The mixing of powders and fluids can be troublesome. Getting it wrong can lead to lumps and gels which become extremely difficult to disperse. The aim of the project is to develop a modelling approach for particle wetting and dissolution processes that can be applied to de-risk design, scale-up and technology transfer of mixing processes. Typical powders in question have varying degrees of solubility, wettability, density, size distribution etc. In many cases the materials will be in limited supply and/or extremely expensive with little known of behaviour beyond bench scale. Furthermore, since the “product” is a formulation there may be synergies (positive and negative) to consider in the sequence and rates of addition. Trial and error scale-up is potentially wasteful hence the need to develop an expert predictive model that identifies key parameters to measure and, from these measurements, a best guess of suitable process(es) and conditions. This will necessarily be a multiscale approach which will couple fluid and impeller flow dynamics with particle-fluid interactions (at the particle scale).
Key objectives will include:
• Development of computational methods for modelling the mixing process at a range of scales from impeller/vessel to particle and particle surface – these will be coupled to link events at the macro- and micro-scale;
• Identification of the key measurable particle properties for calibration of models and for efficient identification of appropriate mixing strategies (equipment, rate of addition, sequence of addition etc) for new materials and formulations;
• Expert model for reliable 1st guess at process selection.
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