Scale-up of wet kneading in a novel vertical high shear kneader

A novel multi-functional vertical high shear kneader has been developed and its performance in wet kneading has previously been reported [Watano et al., Chem. Pharm. Bull., 50(3), 341-345 (2002)]. In this study, scale-up of wet kneading in the novel vertical high shear kneader was conducted. Pharmaceutical excipients composed of lactose, cornstarch and micro-crystalline cellulose were used as powder samples. Kneading operations were conducted under various operating conditions and three different vessel scales. The dried pellets were then prepared by extruding the wet kneaded masses through a dome-type extruder and their drying by a fluidized bed. The physical properties such as strength and disintegration time of the dried pellets were evaluated. It was found that the properties of the dried pellets and their scale-up characteristics were well expressed by an agitation power per unit vessel volume and dimensionless Froude number.