Exploring twin-screw feeding behaviour across different loss-in-weight feeders

Area of Science:

• Pharmaceutical Engineering
• Powder Technology
• Process Analytical Technology

Background:

• Accurate powder feeding is critical for oral solid dosage manufacturing.
• Understanding material properties' influence on feeder performance is essential for process optimization.
• Loss-in-weight feeders are widely used but their performance can vary with scale and operating conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the differences in volumetric twin-screw feeding behavior of 15 powder materials across two loss-in-weight feeders of different scales.
• To identify key material properties influencing feeding performance using multivariate data analysis.
• To develop predictive models for screw filling, feeding capacity decay, and feeding variability.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to analyze the relationship between material properties and feeding parameters.
• Employed Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression to build predictive models for screw filling, feeding capacity decay, and short-term feeding variability.
• Compared feeding behavior across two distinct loss-in-weight feeder scales.

Main Results:

• PCA revealed the significant impact of material properties on volumetric twin-screw feeding outputs.
• PLS models successfully predicted screw filling, feeding capacity decay, and feeding variability.
• Overhead pressure differences between feeders influenced the importance of material properties, particularly for maximum screw filling.

Conclusions:

• Material properties critically influence twin-screw feeding behavior in loss-in-weight systems.
• Feeder scale and operating conditions (e.g., overhead pressure) alter the significance of material properties.
• The developed models provide a foundation for surrogate material identification and selection methodologies in pharmaceutical development.