Spheronization Barrier Technique from Caleva

OK, so this was a tip I discovered a while back, but now it’s becoming more and more beneficial for me in practice when working with sticky, viscous materials.  Perhaps this will help you too?

Now I understand not all formulations are the same.  We all know that getting the optimum consistency for extrusion can be tricky, especially for samples with a higher percentage of active ingredient.  A dramatic shift in texture or consistency can be seen when decreasing the expected amount of stable excipients and additives.

We struggle on anyway and eventually manage to extrude this rather sticky, high viscous material, only to get to the spheronization process and encounter the problem……

'The disk is spinning and the material is not!'

Here’s spheronization tip:

Stop the machine, squeeze between your fingers a small amount of your extruded material and stick it to the side wall of the spheronizer drum. Then turn it on.
The addition of this slight barrier  has an instant impact causing the material to break and start to spheronize in the normal way. 

So next time you are struggling when spheronizing difficult materials, try the ‘barrier technique’!