Pharmaceutical Granulation Process Quiz

The process where primary powder particles join together to form larger, multi-particle units called granules.

Granules typically range from 0.2 to 4.0 millimeters in size. This size is ideal for producing tablets or capsules.

Larger granules, often exceeding 4.0 millimeters, can be used as a dosage form directly. Think of things like sprinkle capsules.

Granulation helps prevent segregation of different powder ingredients, ensuring each granule has the correct proportion of each component.

Granules flow much better than powders, similar to the difference between granulated sugar and powdered sugar.

Granulation helps powders compact better, leading to stronger tablets. It improves the distribution of adhesive material within the granules.

By reducing the presence of toxic dust, granulation minimizes exposure hazards during handling of toxic materials.

Hygroscopic materials can stick together and form a cake when stored as powders. Granulation helps reduce this by allowing some moisture absorption while maintaining flowability.

Granules have a smaller surface area compared to powders of the same volume, making them more stable physically and chemically. This reduces caking and hardening over time.

Granules absorb liquids more easily than powders, preventing clumping and ensuring the drug dissolves properly.

Additives like diluents, disintegrating agents, and adhesives are used to enhance the physical properties of granules. Diluents adjust dose size, disintegrating agents break down the granules, and adhesives hold them together.

The wet granulation method involves mixing powders, adding a binder solution, kneading the mixture until it reaches a desired consistency, forcing the wet mass through a screen to create granules, and drying the granules to remove excess moisture.

Common liquids used in wet granulation are water, ethanol, and isopropanol. They should be volatile (easily removed by drying), non-toxic, and can be used alone or with a dissolved binder.

Water is a frequently used granulating liquid, but its potential for drug instability and longer drying times are drawbacks. It's cheaper, non-flammable, and non-toxic, requiring fewer safety precautions.

Fluidized-bed granulation creates granules by suspending mixed powders in an air stream within a temperature-controlled chamber. The granulating fluid, containing dissolved binder, is sprayed onto the suspended particles, forming granules.

Liquid bridges form when a granulation medium wets the powder particles, creating temporary bonds. These bridges contribute significantly to the granulation process.

Pendular, Funicular, Capillary, and Suspension. Each state is characterized by differing liquid bridge sizes and shapes, controlling the strength of the bonds.

Over-wetting leads to excessive liquid, making the granules too sticky and prone to disintegration. The solution is often to add more powder to absorb the extra liquid.

Under-wetting results in weak granules due to insufficient liquid bridges to hold them together. This can be addressed by adding more liquid to increase the bonding.

Solid bridges form after the liquid bridges solidify during drying. They primarily comprise the polymeric binder used in the granulation process.

Over-drying can destroy the solid bridges, weakening the granules. This results in a less stable product.

Crystallisation of the binder on the particle surface can cause hardening, making the granules difficult to process and potentially affecting the release of the active ingredient.

The dry granulation method, either by slugging or roller compaction, is used for drugs that are sensitive to moisture or heat or do not compress well after wet granulation.

Electrostatic forces are weaker and mainly play a role during initial mixing. Van der Waals forces are much stronger and contribute to the overall strength of the granules.

Dry granulation uses pressure to force particles together, reducing space between them and increasing the strength of Van der Waals forces.

Partial melting of excipients with low melting points can occur due to high shear stresses during dry granulation. Upon cooling, solidification increases particle-particle interactions.

Effervescent granules are dry mixtures containing a medicinal agent, sodium bicarbonate, citric acid, and tartaric acid. In water, these components react to produce carbon dioxide, causing effervescence.

Effervescent granules release carbon dioxide when added to water. This carbonated solution masks the unpleasant taste of the medicine.

Dry granulation is a process where powder particles are compressed together to form larger granules. This process is often used to improve powder properties like flowability and compaction.

Dry granulation offers advantages such as less equipment and space requirements, but it has disadvantages like non-uniform color distribution and potential dust generation.