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

The current study investigated the differences in volumetric twin-screw feeding behaviour of 15 commonly known oral solid dosage powder materials between two loss-in-weight feeders, differing in scale. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to study the importance of material properties on various volumetric feeding output parameters. In addition, the developed PCA model was used to explore material properties that could explain observed differences in screw filling as a function of the screw speed per feeder. To study changes in the importance of material properties of various powder materials between two loss-in-weight feeding systems, multiple Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression models were developed. These PLS models focused on predicting screw filling, feeding capacity decay and short-term feeding variability. Overall, the difference in overhead pressure between both studied feeders appeared to affect the importance of material properties, mostly for the maximum screw filling. The developed models highlighted the importance of material properties on twin-screw feeding behaviour per loss-in-weight feeder and will support future research on developing a surrogate material identification and selection methodology.