Size reduction
TWINKLE N U
M PHARM
ASSISTAN PROFESSOR
Hammer mill
Uses
● Processes wet or dry granules and disperses powders in pharmaceutical industries.
● Herbal medicines, sugar, and pharmaceutical raw materials can be ground with the
machine.
● Medicinal plants' barks, leaves, and roots can be powdered using this chemical.
● Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), excipients, etc., are milled using this process.
● Merits
● (1) Hammer mill is easy to setup (install), dismantle and clean up.
● (2) Scale-up problems are minimum provided same type of mill is used.
● (3) Various types of feed stock can be handled, using screen of different sizes.
● (4) Hammer mill occupies small space.
● (5) It is versatile, i.e. speed and screen can be changed rapidly.
● (6) As it is operated in a closed environment, dust can be reduced and explosion hazards
can be prevented.
Demerits
● Abrasive and very hard materials should not be ground finely due to excessive wear.
● Due to excessive heat generated by mill fouling, sticky or plastic-like low-melting
materials cannot be processed in the mill.
● Screen may get clogged.
● Hammer mills cannot be employed to mill sticky, fibrous and hard materials
Ball mill
Uses
It ranges from 5 to 100 mm. Parenteral and ophthalmic products can be manufactured.
Merits
● It is possible to obtain a very fine powder.
● Dry and wet grinding methods are equally suitable.
● As closed cylinders are used for grinding, it is possible to grind toxic substances. Sterile
conditions can be maintained with the use of closed cylinders.
● Compared to other mills, ball mills are inexpensive to install, operate, and maintain.
● Batch and continuous operation are both possible.
● Grinder media are inexpensive. It is inexpensive to install and produce.
Demerits
● Ball mills are extremely noisy machines, especially when metal cylinders are used.
● Ball milling takes a long time. Ball mills are unable to grind the tacky, fibrous material.
● These materials might deposit on the sides of the mill, causing problems.
● A possibility of contamination of the product exists due to wear on the balls and the inside
surface of the cylinder.
● Uses
● Griofulvin (a drug used to fight fungal infections), antibiotics, etc., can be ground in this
manner when fine powder is required.
Merits
● Due to the lack of heat generated in the mill, thermolabile substances can be
processed.
● This produces smaller particles than conventional grinding methods.
● It does not contain any contamination.
● Nitrogen can be used in place of normal air for oxygen-sensitive materials or for
materials sensitive to moisture.
Demerits
● Milling soft, fibrous materials is not recommended. Highly expensive.
● Equipment is expensive.
Fluid energy mill
Principle:
● Fluid mills operate on the principle of impact and attrition.
Working of fluid energy mill:
● Start the fluid energy mill and pass the feed through the inlets of the venturi. the air entering
through the grinding nozzle transport the power in the elliptical or circular truck of the mill.
the high-velocity air stream passed and the milling takes place because of the high-velocity
collision between the suspended particles.
● Suspended particle colloids with each other and break. thus impact and attrition forces
required to achieve size reduction. the result in small particles is carried out through outlets
or removed by the filters.
● The coarser particle undergoes re-circulation in the chamber and again colloids with the new
feed materials.
Construction of fluid energy mill:
● It is connected by an elliptical pipe that has a height of 20 to 200 mm. made up of pharma-
grade stainless still and tough ceramics.
● The fluid mill is connected with a grinding nozzle usually (2 to 6)with a diameter that may be
placed tangentially and opposite to the initial flow path of powers, a compressed air passes
with 600 kilopascals to 1 megapascal.
● Inert gases can be used to minimize or eliminate the oxidation of susceptible compounds.
● A Venturi feeder is provided in the path of airflow an outlet with classified is fitted to allow
the escape of air.
It connects with the outlet with a classifier it allowing the escape of the air.
Uses
● It is used where the product is highly heated and sensitive like antibiotics and vitamins.
● Preferred when strict quality control is desirable
● To get the ultra-fine grinding
● It generally proceeds with moderately hard materials.
Advantages:
● It has no moving parts
● No heat generation (so it is highly required for thermolabile substances like
sulphonamide, vitamins, and antibiotics)
● No chance of contamination
● The expansion of gases under pressure produces cooling effects.
Disadvantage:
● Not suitable for soft, Tucky, and fibrous materials
● It is expensive equipment
● Not easy to clean
Edge runner mill
Edge Runner Mill principle works on the crushing (Compression).
Construction:
● It consist of two heavy rollers and may weigh several tons.
● The roller move on a bed which is made up of granite or stone.
● Each roller has a central shaft and revolve on its axis.
● The rollers are mounted on horizontal shaft around the bed.
Working
● On the bed is placed the material to be ground.
● It is kept in the wheel's path by scraping it with a scrapper.
● Stones revolve around their axes while also traveling around a shallow bed of stones.
● This grinding process takes place over time. Powder is sieved for the appropriate particle
size after it is collected. Batch processing is used.
● Uses:
● Edge runner mill is used for grinding tough materials to fine powder. It is still used for plant-
based products, while more sophisticated mills are used for chemicals and drugs.
● Advantages:
● Edge runner mill does not require attention during operation.
● Disadvantages:
(1) Edge runner mill occupies more space than other commonly used mills.
(2) Contamination of the product with roller material is possible.
(3) The milling process is time consuming.
(4) It is not used for sticky materials.
(5) Energy consumption is quite high.
End runner mill
Working
● Mortar is used to grind the material. After scraping the material into the pestle, it is placed
into the mortar.
● This causes the mortar to spin rapidly.
● There is a pestle inside the mortar.
● The pestle is rotated by a rotating mortar.
● This process involves both shearing and crushing in order to reduce the size of the
materials.
● A sieve is used to collect the material and turn it into powder.
Merits
● It is easy to clean and maintain because it is designed simply. Electricity
consumption is low.
● Particles produced are usually fine, and sometimes even very fine.
● There is less supervision needed during the milling process.
● There are no sieves for separating sizes on it, so it cannot clog or choke.
Demerits
● Batch processing is the only way to use it.
● Sticky materials cannot be processed using it.
● A lot of noise is generated by the machine.
● Machine scrappers need adjusting intermittently.
Uses
● A fibrous crude drug is reduced to a fine powder by the process.
● Finely ground semisolid preparations like pastes and ointments are grinded using this
machine.
● Throughout viscous dispersion media, it is used to distribute contents uniformly.
● Dry and wet grinding of crude drugs can be accomplished using it.