PHARMA ALLY / PACKAGING SPECIAL TECHNICAL REPORT
Technologies for tabletting effervescent products Romaco Kilian provides the perfect solution for compressing effervescent formulations with maximum efficiency. An insight by Peter Heyn, Technical Marketing, Romaco Kilian TABLETTING effervescent products makes many complex demands. Yet with the right technology, these tablets, too, can be processed rapidly and safely as required for the respective product. Romaco Kilian has the perfect solution for compressing effervescent formulations with maximum efficiency. ‌because it fizzes. Children are particularly fond of effervescent products for this reason. The beverage and confectionery industries accordingly offer an enormous variety. Yet the pharmaceutical industry also provides numerous products as effervescent tablets, for example pain relievers, cough syrups or medications for the gastrointestinal tract. A broad array of nutraceuticals are likewise available, often in several different flavours. The administration of water-soluble drugs is especially recommended for children, the elderly or patients with swallowing difficulties or a sensitive stomach. The range of pharma dosage forms which can be purchased today is very wide and effervescent tablets are fundamental.
Tablets with complex demands Effervescent tablets may have many benefits for the consumers to whom they are administered, but manufacturing and processing these hygroscopic products inevitably imposes complex demands. Effervescent tablets react extremely sensitively with air, light and moisture by nature. Many of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and vitamins processed in effervescent formulations are easily affected by heat. Effervescent tablets moreover tend to be friable and break. All these factors must be considered when
tabletting effervescent powders. The Romaco Kilian KTP 590X tablet press is tailor made for this kind of specification.
Hygienic design of the tablet presses in the Romaco Kilian KTP X series
Gentle compression Effervescent tablets are naturally prone to unwanted air pockets and capping, which is why the tabletting process takes place in three steps. The Kilian KTP 590X single-sided rotary press is consequently equipped with three separate compression stations. The first compression roller simply tamps the powder. Next, the tablets are pre-compressed while in the third step they are converted into finished products in the main compression unit. The use of Kilian 28/41 tooling simultaneously extends the dwell time, meaning harder tablets can be made because there is more time overall for deaeration. This stops the tablets from bursting later.
Smoother than ever Effervescent powders are hygroscopic with very poor flow properties. The fill shoes and paddles of the tablet press
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Brake magnets eliminate frictional heat
must therefore be designed to enable them to be filled efficiently and distributed uniformly in the die. The powder can also be lubricated with magnesium stearate to pre-
vent the product from sticking to the tooling. An external lubricant supply system sprays the punch tips and the die walls during the production process. This has the
advantage that the lubricant no longer has to be mixed into the product beforehand. Much less material is required for external lubrication. Harder tablets can be achieved as a
EXPRESS PHARMA
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March 1-15, 2018