Model driven design of dense phase wet granulation processes

湿法制粒是使用液体粘结剂从难以处理的细粉中形成结构良好和性能良好的颗粒的过程。造粒允许从细粉饲料中开发出具有特定属性(流动性、强度、溶出度等)的结构化颗粒产品。造粒过程是生产对英国制造业至关重要的一系列产品的关键步骤，包括制药(GSK、阿斯特拉捷利康)、食品和消费品(雀巢、宝洁、联合利华)、农业和特种化学品(先正达)。这通常是最有问题的步骤，可能会在产品质量、上市时间和不必要的高回收增加成本方面造成问题。尽管其在工业上具有重要意义，但造粒工艺的设计和规模在实践中仍是非常经验性的。将知识转移到新配方或新设备设计充其量也是困难的。该项目的目标是开发一种基于隔室的建模框架，用于设计和扩展密相湿法造粒工艺。我们将开发和验证离散元(DEM)/种群平衡(PB)耦合模型来预测密相湿式造粒机颗粒特性分布的演变。具体的项目目标是：1.开发密相湿法造粒过程的隔室多尺度设计模型；2.使用实验室规模的间歇式高剪切湿法造粒机验证这些模型；以及3.开发间歇和连续湿法造粒机的gSOLID模块，并利用这些模块开发和实施教育案例研究。该项目将通过来自普渡大学的客座科学家Jim Litster教授发展谢菲尔德大学和美国普渡大学之间的新的合作。该项目的一个关键成果将是开发新的工具，以支持英国制造业高效制造结构性颗粒产品。

Wet granulation is the process of using a liquid binder to form well structured and well behaved granules from difficult to handle fine powders. Granulation allows the development of structured particulate products with defined attributes (flowability, strength, dissolution profile, etc) from a fine powder feed. The granulation process is a key step in the production of a wide range of products important to the UK manufacturing industries including pharmaceuticals (GSK, Astra Zeneca), food and consumer products (Nestle, Procter and Gamble, Unilever), agricultural and specialty chemicals (Syngenta). It is often the most problematic step and can cause problems in product quality, time to market, and increased cost through unnecessarily high recycle.Despite its industrial importance, approaches to the design and scaling of granulation processes are still very empirical in practice. Transfer of knowledge to new formulations, or to new equipment designs is difficult at best. The goal of this project is to develop a compartment based modeling framework for design and scaling dense phase wet granulation processes. We will develop and validate coupled discrete element (DEM)/population balance (PB) models to predict the evolution of granule property distributions for dense phase wet granulators. The specific project objectives are to:1. Develop compartment based multiscale design models for dense phase wet granulation processes;2. Validate these models using laboratory scale batch high shear wet granulators; and 3. Develop gSOLIDS modules for batch and continuous wet granulators and use these to develop and implement educational case studies.The project will develop a new collaboration between Sheffield University and Purdue University (USA) through the visiting scientist, Professor Jim Litster from Purdue. A key outcome of the project will be the development of new tools to support the UK manufacturing industries in efficient manufacture of structured particulate products.