Multi-objective optimization of high-shear wet granulation process for better granule properties and fluidized bed drying characteristics

Abstract

This study determines the effects of influential process parameters of high-shear wet granulation (HSWG) on the critical process and quality attributes of the granules. The wet granules from HSWG experiments were dried in a fluidized bed dryer wherein the granule drying characteristics were analyzed by introducing Page's equation, which fits well with R2 values of above 0.95 for all the batches. Response surface methodology (RSM) based nonlinear models predicting the drying time, flow angle of repose, and surface mean diameter of the granules effectively capture the granulation phenomena with high correlation coefficients of above 0.93. Multi-objective constrained grid-search (MOCGS) optimization is utilized to optimize the HSWG process. Selected optimization results include the minimum drying time of 23 min, the minimum flow angle of repose of granules as 21° and the maximum surface mean diameter of the granules as 0.62 mm for the batch size of 1.8 kg.