The commercial trend for products subject to excessive dustiness is increasingly moving in the direction of agglomerated/granulated forms that limit dust dispersion to the detriment of the operator and reducing product waste. The latest research and development project has brought essedielle to the production of granulates by agglomeration through the fluidized bed agglomeration technique. The energy costs of the process, however, are considerable, leading to the search for more cost-effective forms of powder reduction processes.

Tablet manufacturing is a well-established process in the pharmaceutical industry, which is needed to make native powder products into compact forms that are easier to dose and administer. The manufacturing process is also economical because it is purely mechanical, as a certain fixed amount of powdery material is introduced inside a cavity formed by two punches and a mold. The punches are then pressed with a high force so as to fuse the material together.

Initially, the lower punch is lowered to create a cavity in which to accommodate the granular material. The excess amount is scraped away. The lower punch is lowered and the cavity is temporarily covered to prevent material loss, then the upper punch is lowered and at the same time the cover is removed so that the upper punch is in contact with the powder. At this point, compression rollers act on the upper punch so as to impart the necessary compressive force to make the granular material fuse together in the form of a tablet. Finally, the lower punch is raised so as to eject the tablet.

Source: Jeff Dahl – Opera propria, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3606080

The ease of production, low production costs, and resolution in an alternative way to granulation of the tableted formula prompts the direction of efforts in this type of agglomeration. The industrial machine will be commissioned in the coming days, replacing the pilot machine that produced the first tablet formulations, such as PVPP, which has already reached the commercialization stage. 

Learn more about our PVPP Tabs here: http://www.essedielleenologia.com/en/prodotto/enology/pvpp-tab/