Determination of size distribution of lactose, glucose and mannitol granules by sieve analysis and laser diffractometry

Abstract

The granule size distributions of three excipients, lactose, glucose and mannitol, were studied. The granules were produced in a high-shear granulator, and granule size was determined by both sieve analysis and laser light diffractometry. For all excipients, the granule size increased with increase in the amount of granulation liquid. Both the shapes and the size distributions of granules produced from the three excipients differed, and the results of the two methods for determining granule size also clearly differed. Due to the low measuring range of laser light diffractometry, sieve analysis appeared to be a more reliable method for measuring mean size and size distribution of granule samples.