Modelling of Twin Screw Granulation on Micro-Macro Scales

ended

Pharmaceutical manufacturing companies use various powders to prepare granules/tablets with stable attributes. However, wastage costs in the manufacture of solid dose drugs are of the order $50 billion. Much of this is due to a lack of fundamental knowledge of the physical processes occurring inside the particulate processes. In this project, common manufacturing systems such as are twin screw granulator (TSG) to produce suitable granules/formulations will be studied. A fully mechanistic understanding of these processes will be undertaken with the objective of reducing the manufacturing wastage and handling cost of the TSG using the skills and knowledge of the experienced researcher (ER) and the host supervisor. Improving this efficiency will play a key role in ensuring a more sustainable production system through less wastage into the future, a societal challenge which will be met by the H2020 programme. MODSIM is a multidisciplinary project aimed at exploiting my background in mathematical modelling of particulate processes using population balances in an area of pharmaceutical solid drug manufacturing. Apart from its manufacturing potential, this research will broaden current understanding of micro scale processes inside the TSG using MC method. The project forms a collaboration between the world leading Bernal Institute for Process Engineering research laboratories and an SME and exploits the multidisciplinary nature of their studies. The resulting knowledge will help EU manufacturing enterprises, in particular SMEs, to adapt to global competitive pressures by improving the technological base of EU manufacturing from pharma and importantly potential translation into high-value bioprocessing and med-tech sectors. The proposed research will provide outstanding research-led training and falls within the H2020 excellence science remit.