Course title: Industrial Pharmacy-I
Course code: 612-T
SIZE REDUCTION
OR
COMMINUTION
SIEVING
Course In-charge: Sidra Sohail Asim
1
Objective of the study
In this chapter, the discussion will be conducted
on the sieving, their standards and working as
well as on mechanism.
2
SIEVING
Sieving is a separation technique based on
the difference in particle size.
The sieve is responsible for retaining the
larger particles.
The method of separation of particles from
a mixture based on the difference in size of
particles is known as sieving.
It uses sieve plates for separation of
coarse particles from finer particles.
3
The principles of sieving in order to
achieve particle size analysis.
There are some differences in the
methods used to achieve size separation
rather than size analysis.
The use of sieving in size separation
usually requires processing of larger
volumes of powder than are commonly
found in size analysis operations.
For this reason, the sieves used for size
separation are often larger in area and of
more robust construction than those used
for size analysis.
4
Techniques for sieving
There are several techniques for encouraging
particles
to separate into their appropriate size fractions
efficiently.
In dry sieving processes these are based
on mechanical disturbances of the powder bed
and
include the following.
Agitation methods.
Brushing methods
Centrifugal methods. 5
SIEVING
Advantages of sieving
Sieving is a traditional method of separation.
It is a cheap method as the installation cost is very low.
It takes lesser time in comparison to other methods of
separation.
Disadvantages of sieving
It cannot separate two substances in a mixture which have
the same size.
6
SIEVING
FACTORS
The size and shape of particles relative to the sieve
aperture
The mesh size of the sieve itself
The amount of material on the surface of the sieve
The direction of movement of the sieve
The rate of material movement
7
SIEVING
TYPES OF SIEVES:
1. Woven wire sieves
2. Plain weave
3. Twilled weave
4. Bolting cloth sieves
5. Bar screens
6. Punched plates (Perforated Screens)
8
TYPES OF SIEVES
9
Woven wire sieves
10
Plain weave and Twilled weave
11
Bolting cloth sieves
12
Punched plates (Perforated Screens)
13
STANDARDS FOR SIEVE
1. SIEVE NUMBER
2. NOMINAL SIZE APERTURE
3. NOMINAL DIAMETER OF THE WIRE
4. APPROXIMATE SCREEN AREA
5. APERTURE TOLERANCE AVERAGE
14
SIEVING 1. SIEVE NUMBER:
This is the number of meshes in a length of 25.4mm (i.e.
1 inch), in each direction.
15
SIEVING
2. NOMINAL SIZE APERTURE:
This is the distance between the wires, so that it
represents the length of the side of the square aperture.
16
SIEVING
3. NOMINAL DIAMETER OF THE WIRE:
The wire diameter is selected to give a suitable
aperture size.
It is also required to give the necessary strength to
avoid distortion.
17
SIEVING
4. APPROXIMATE SCREEN AREA:
This standard expresses the area of the meshes as a
percentage of the total area of the sieve.
It is governed by the diameter of the wire.
It is generally kept within 35 to 45% of the total area of
the sieve.
This represents the useful area of a sieve. Greater
screen area is preferred.
18
SIEVING
5. APERTURE TOLERANCE AVERAGE:
Some variation in the aperture size is unavoidable and
this variation is expressed as a percentage, known as
aperture tolerance average.
It is the maximum limit within which the dimension
of meshes can be allowed to vary and still be
acceptable for sieving.
Finer wires are likely to be subject to a greater
proportional variation in diameter than coarse mesh.
19
SIEVING
20
SIEVING
PARTICLE SIZE
If the required measuring range lies between
approximately 40 microns and 125 mm, classical dry
sieving is the method of choice.
The range may be extended to 20 microns by wet
sieving and to 10 microns by air jet sieving.
SAMPLE PROPERTIES
It should be taken into account whether the particles form
agglomerates, which density the material has or if it
tends to be electrostatically charged.
21
SIEVING
Materials used for sieves
Metals:
o Iron
Non
o Coated iron
metals:
o Copper
o Copper alloys
o Nylon
o Terylene
o Stainless steel
22
SIEVING
23
SIEVING
24
SIEVING
VIBRATORY SIEVING
The sample is thrown upwards by
the vibrations of the sieve bottom
and falls back down due to
gravitation forces. The amplitude
indicates the vertical oscillation
height of the sieve bottom.
25
SIEVING
HORIZONTAL SIEVING
In a horizontal sieve shaker the
sieves move in horizontal circles in
a plane. Horizontal sieve shakers
are preferably used for needle-
shaped, flat, long or fibrous
samples.
26
SIEVING
TAP SIEVING
In a tap sieve shaker a horizontal,
circular movement is superimposed
by a vertical motion generated by a
tapping impulse. Tap sieve shakers
are specified in various standards
for particle size analysis.
27
SIEVING
AIR JET
SIEVING
The air jet sieve is a sieving
machine for single sieving, i.e.
for each sieving process only
one sieve is used. The sieve
itself is not moved during the
process.
28
SIEVING
AIR JET SIEVING
The material on the sieve is moved by a rotating jet of air.
A vacuum cleaner which is connected to the sieving machine generates a
vacuum inside the sieving chamber and sucks in fresh air through a
rotating slit nozzle.
When passing the narrow slit of the nozzle the air stream is accelerated
and blown against the sieve mesh, dispersing the particles.
Above the mesh, the air jet is distributed over the complete sieve surface
and is sucked in with low speed through the sieve mesh.
Thus the finer particles are transported through the mesh openings into
the vacuum cleaner or, optionally, into a cyclone.
29
AIR JET SIEVING
30
SIEVE SHAKER
31
REFERENCES
https://
[Link]/particle-size/sieves/electroformed-
sieves?hsLang=en-us
[Link]
/[Link]
Aulton's Pharmaceutics: The Design and
Manufacture of Medicines.
Cooper and Gunn’s Tutorial Pharmacy (sixth
edition) Chapter name “Size seperation”
32