On-line monitoring of granule growth in high shear granulation by an image processing system.

A novel system has been developed to continuously monitor granule growth in a high shear granulation. The system consists of an image processing system and a particle image probe comprising a CCD camera, lighting unit and air purge system. Segregation during powder mixing was investigated experimentally and the optimal positioning of the probe was determined. High shear granulation was conducted using pharmaceutical powders, and granule size and product's yield of various size ranges were continuously measured by the developed system. Sieve analysis of the granulated products sampled out during the granulation was simultaneously conducted, and the obtained data was compared with that by the on-line image processing system. An extremely close relationship could be found between both data, proving that the developed system could monitor the granule growth accurately and continuously throughout the granulation. An on-off control system was developed to control the granulation process, and the performance of the system was confirmed.