Foam granulation: new developments in pharmaceutical solid oral dosage forms using twin screw extrusion machinery

This paper investigates foam granulation in a twin screw extruder as a new continuous wet granulation technique for pharmaceutical powder drug formulations. Foamed aqueous binder has a reportedly lower soak-to-spread ratio than drop or spray liquid addition in batch granulation. This work demonstrates a twin screw extruder configuration for foam granulation and subsequently compares the new approach against liquid injection in the granulation of α-lactose monohydrate with a methylcellulose binder. Trials were conducted at high powder output rates (20–40 kg/h) and high screw speeds (220–320 RPM) with two screw configurations. Process stability improved with the new technique allowing granulation with less binder. The extruded mass maintained a low exit temperature, being insensitive to operating conditions unlike the liquid injection approach, where temperatures rose significantly as flow rate increased. The particle size distribution by foam granulation reflected a more uniformly wetted mass with larger g...